Drug independence

Drug independence is an important part of the country's national security. Using the example of one of the leading enterprises in the Biochemist industry, Promomed Group, we explain why the production of a full cycle of medicines in Russia is a difficult but feasible task.

What is a pharmaceutical substance?

The full cycle of drug production implies that all stages of production must be carried out in the country, and first of all it concerns the creation of pharmaceutical substances. A pharmaceutical substance is an active substance, without which any medicine will be a dummy. All other components in the preparations are auxiliary.

The composition of the tablet using the example of an antitumor drug

At the moment, the share of foreign substances is about 80% of the total volume in the Russian market. Under the conditions of sanctions pressure from foreign countries, many foreign pharmaceutical companies have stopped investing in our country. And although they have not officially abandoned the supply of vital drugs and their ingredients, problems with shipments still arose due to disrupted logistics chains.

The situation with the supply of pharmaceutical substances in 2022 from different countries

Another problem is the cost of substances, which began to rise in 2020 due to the devaluation of the ruble, they rose by 23.9% against 15% a year earlier. After the sanctions were imposed in 2022, many European companies actually stopped the supply of substances, and the prices of raw materials from India and China increased by an average of 30-35% due to logistical difficulties.

Where were pharmaceutical substances imported to the Russian Federation in 2021

In the new realities, complete drug independence from imported raw materials is becoming one of the priorities of the state. This is possible only if Russia establishes, first of all, the production of pharmaceutical substances — and does not wait for delivery, suspending the production of medicines at the slightest delay. The task is large—scale, but what is at stake is the health of people, the autonomy of pharmaceutical industries and their financial stability, and, as a result, the uninterrupted supply of medicines to the whole country.

In other words, Russia needs to develop its own pharmaceutical substance production facilities. This pushes Russian pharmaceutical manufacturers to create large-scale, complex and multi-stage production of raw materials. And in general, to organize a full cycle of drug production, which will ensure pharmacological safety.

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