Access to therapy is part of the protection of the constitutional order: Peter Bely spoke at the SPIEF session on intellectual property
16.06.2022
Medicines
16.06.2022
Russian pharmaceutical companies have begun scientific research on the creation of drugs for smallpox in monkeys. This was announced to TASS by Peter Bely, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Promomed Group of Companies, on Thursday on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).
"We must be ready to develop drugs at different levels of scale for any type of threat. Scientific work by our pharmaceutical companies is already underway, and we already see several promising molecules that will be effective for treatment. Not for prevention, but specifically for the treatment of smallpox, which, as you know, used to be an incurable disease. This is a very important quality of the Russian and global pharmaceutical industry — no matter what the threat, to have a response to it," said Bely.
He recalled that monkey pox has not yet been recognized as a global threat by WHO. In addition, Bely added, the majority of the adult population has been vaccinated against common human smallpox, and this vaccine is effective against smallpox in monkeys. So far, we are talking about a rare endemic local disease that is likely to affect not a very large number of people and is unlikely to develop into a pandemic, but the experience of covid shows that it is necessary to take into account the possibility of a similar development, Bely added.
According to him, Promomed is working on two molecules that are promising for creating a smallpox drug. "I am sure that a number of other Russian pharmaceutical companies are also keeping this at the level of 'combat readiness,'" the expert noted.
Before producing a medicine, it is necessary to take a number of steps associated with huge costs — it is necessary to do pharmaceutical development and conduct clinical trials, said the chairman of the Board of Directors of Promomed Group. "And now everyone is assessing this situation — 200, 300, 500 cases of smallpox infection in monkeys. Is it worth millions of dollars? If suddenly this threat is underestimated, we must be ready to present a broad front. All pharmaceutical companies in the world are preparing for this," Bely emphasized.
The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, organized by the Roscongress Foundation, runs from June 15 to 18. The theme of this year's forum is "New World — New opportunities". The event will also include the forums of SMEs, creative business, "Drug Safety", "SPIEF Junior" and SPIEF Sport Week. TASS acts as a photo hosting agency and information partner of the event.
A source: tass.ru
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