Promomed Group summed up the results of SPIEF 2022

Eight presentations at the forum events – sessions and discussions on the pharmaceutical industry, regulation and measures to support innovation; five new agreements on cooperation and development of promising projects; meetings with heads of regions and government representatives; negotiations with partners and investors, as well as numerous interviews and comments – these are the results for Promomed Group 25- the 20th anniversary SPIEF-2022, which became the first for the company.

The forum was attended by Peter Bely, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Promomed Group, Dmitry Zemskov, Executive Director of Biochemik JSC (part of Promomed Group) and Kira Zaslavskaya, Director of New Products at Promomed Group.

On the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Promomed Group of Companies signed an agreement with the Skolkovo Foundation1 to begin joint work in the development of biotechnological drugs, new dosage forms, improved methods of synthesizing pharmaceutical substances, conducting preclinical and clinical studies, and creating a modern research center. As well as with the ² largest universities: the Russian University of Chemical Technology named after Mendeleev, Moscow State Medical and Dental University named after Evdokimov, National Research University of Mordovia named after Ogarev and St. Petersburg State Chemical and Pharmaceutical University in order to develop professions related to high-tech production in the field of pharmacy, train highly specialized specialists, improve the skills of pharmaceutical production workers and conduct joint research in the field of new drug development.

As part of the "Drug Safety" launch day³ Dmitry Zemskov, speaking at the first plenary session, called for preserving the experience gained during the pandemic and preserving previously established industry support mechanisms, especially for new original drugs, as the most important catalyst for the development of the industry. The speaker noted that the industry is currently facing certain limitations in auxiliary substances and analytical equipment. "All the difficulties are being successfully solved, however, it is important to put the production of technologies and compounds on stream," he stressed. Kira Zaslavskaya noted that one of the most important steps that a domestic pharmaceutical company can take to develop the innovation market is cooperation with research centers: "In order to quickly create innovative drugs, you need to constantly be in the same information field with research institutes, create platforms for inventory and discussion of R&D."

In the track "Healthy Society"⁴. Private traders have identified innovative solutions and strategies that will allow Russian pharmaceutical and medical companies to take the lead in the new economic conditions. Peter Bely, assessing the current increased responsibility of the domestic pharmaceutical industry, stressed the need to refrain from pursuing import substitution: "It is not necessary to turn the domestic market into a country of generics. It is necessary to focus on unique promising developments in cooperation with the government and scientific centers." Dmitry Zemskov, answering a question about the right to call an innovative plant with a 60-year history, spoke about a broad modernization program with expanded production, emphasizing that today Biochemik is the newest plant with a rich history.

The theme of the final day was "Investing in health: effective cooperation between business and society"⁵. During the dialogue, Petr Bely said: "We need to think about how to make Russia a country that produces a large number of next-in-class ⁶ or first-in-class ⁷ drugs. This is a crucial issue. Yes, it is much more difficult to make first-in-class drugs, but it is necessary that their production in the main therapeutic groups become a national policy." "And for enterprises engaged in innovative activities, for example, developing Russian pharma, producing domestic drugs, it is necessary to provide benefits and expand dialogue with them," Dmitry Zemskov held up the topic, "tax preferences and business assistance should apply not only to residents of special economic zones."

¹ Promomed Group of Companies begins joint work with Skolkovo Foundation
² Leading universities of the country will train specialists for Promomed Group of Companies
³ Promomed Group of Companies at the SPIEF. Day One: "Drug Safety"
^4.5 Promomed Group of Companies at the SPIEF. Day two: "The course for innovation"
⁶ "next-in-class" drugs are original medicines protected by a patent, possessing similar therapeutic properties and mechanisms of action, resembling already successfully used medicines.
⁷ "first-in-class" drugs - "first in its class", innovative new drugs that have not yet been on the market, acting on a fundamentally new target.