SPIEF 2024: Intellectual Property in pharma is the country's strategic capital

Intellectual property issues in the pharmaceutical industry were raised at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF-2024). At the session "IP in pharmaceuticals: dispute or discussion?" The experts discussed the legal regulation of the drug industry, support for full-cycle domestic manufacturers, unified approaches to the use of compulsory licensing mechanisms, patent strategies and regulatory initiatives.

The head of Rospatent, Yuri Zubov, noted the growing activity of Russian companies in filing patent applications in the pharmaceutical industry. At the same time, the domestic patenting strategy differs from the foreign one. In the latter, active substances (primary patents) are mainly patented, which are the basis for further production of high–tech products, while Russian companies protect secondary solutions.

"Reproduced drugs are obtained. It is important to note that this creates a very serious market, which makes it possible to eliminate the shortage of certain drugs. For many, such reproduction is a successful start in creating unique and breakthrough developments. And we see similar examples. To increase the number of such developers, we need to focus on their support at the state level," said Yuri Zubov.

The topic was continued by Peter Bely, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Promomed Group of Companies. In his opinion, the preponderance in the number of so-called primary patents should shift towards domestic pharmaceutical companies.

"Such intellectual property in pharma will make it possible to generate huge capital in Russia and at the expense of domestic companies. This is indeed a working asset, and it should realize its potential. We see support for the creation of true and meaningful innovations both in the Ministry of Health and in Rospatent, which creates many tools for this purpose – consulting, fast tracks, and the Center for Assistance to Advanced Technologies. They help us provide our innovative solutions with reliable world-class patent protection. This is a giant lever that the entire pharmaceutical industry can use for development. And we are actively using this," said Petr Bely.

The head of the Republic of Mordovia, Artyom Zdunov, shared regional experience in the development of the pharmaceutical field: "It is impossible to form a competent intellectual property market only for pharma, it must develop as a whole. And we are seriously working on this: we have increased the coefficient of inventive activity by 40%, and the number of patent applications by 50%. People began to believe that with the help of a patent you can earn money."

Sergey Glagolev, Deputy Minister of Health of the Russian Federation, spoke about the prospects of patent legislation. He noted that it is necessary to improve the law enforcement of teaching patent strategies to all market participants, taking into account the innovative development scenario of pharma; maintain a clear separation of regulatory and patent law; institutionalize all practices related to compulsory licensing and the analysis of foreign experience.

"The issue of developing integrated patenting is also important – a set of patents that cover all elements of a medicinal product or medical device. Together with Rospatent, we have created a transfer center that provides great assistance in this," said Sergey Glagolev.

Vyacheslav Shulenin, General Director of the Moscow Center for Innovative Technologies in Healthcare, noted that the center has accumulated a large reserve of innovative developments that were not brought to production at the time due to the oversaturation of the market with imported drugs.

"Now our developers have a unique situation. They are supported at all levels. At the same time, we see the need to introduce international standards to stimulate scientists and drug makers so that they, like all over the world, receive royalties and actively continue to work on innovations. After all, the country's intellectual capital realized in high–demand innovations is the basis for economic growth," concluded Vyacheslav Shulenin.

The recording of the session is available via the link.