The biopharmaceutical industry is a new IT sector for the Russian stock market

June 11, 2024, St. Petersburg – Participants of the session "Advanced Pharmaceuticals of Russia: unique developments, new technologies and industry leadership" during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, the main trends of the Russian pharmaceutical market were discussed.

The session was attended by Peter Bely, Chairman of the Board of Directors of PJSC Promomed, Sergey Zhdanov, Managing Director, Director of the Center for the Health Industry of PJSC Sberbank, Kamila Zarubina, Managing Director of the Center for Biological and Medical Technologies, Skolkovo Foundation, Artem Zdunov, Head of the Republic of Mordovia, Ekaterina Priezdeva, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, First Vice President Gazprombank JSC Denis Shulakov and Artgen Biotech Chairman of the Board of Directors Artur Isaev.

The session participants discussed the main trends of the Russian pharmaceutical industry – ensuring import independence, increasing export potential and using advanced biotechnological solutions for the production of innovative drugs. According to the approved Pharma 2030 Strategy, these areas are key to the development of the Russian pharmaceutical industry. The speakers noted that one of the main success factors is the close cooperation of pharmaceutical industry manufacturers with government authorities in creating state business support measures to stimulate the development of the domestic pharmaceutical industry. "The development of new drugs involves huge monetary investments. And therefore, creating original products is not the task of one company, but the task of the entire industry as a whole. When developing new drugs, manufacturers must be sure that they will be introduced into medical use as soon as possible," said Ekaterina Priezdeva, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation.

The head of the Republic of Mordovia, Artyom Zdunov, also spoke out in support of the domestic pharmaceutical industry. He named pharmaceuticals as one of the priority areas for the investment attractiveness of the region. "The topic of pharmaceuticals is of interest to everyone now, because this is really the point of growth of our independence, our sovereignty. Promomed Group is one of the largest investors, employers and taxpayers in the region, and its Biochemist plant is one of the largest customers of highly qualified personnel at the Ogarev Moscow State University. Now highly qualified specialists from Moscow and other regions come to work in the republic, specifically at Biochemik," said the Head of Mordovia. "The portfolio of the group of companies includes more than 300 names of medicines, 80% of them are included in the list of vital ones," he stressed.

The panelists also discussed the issue of the investment attractiveness of companies in the Russian pharmaceutical market. Denis Shulakov, First Vice President of Gazprombank JSC, answered the question in the affirmative about whether the pharmaceutical industry could become a new IT for the Russian financial market. "The entire market of our pharma is 2.6 trillion rubles, the IT market is 2.4 trillion rubles. The pharmaceutical industry is a potentially new Klondike. The world's leading pharmaceutical companies (Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly) trade at almost the same valuation multipliers as Apple and Microsoft. In other words, the potential of pharmaceutical companies surpasses today's IT market," said Denis Shulakov.

In his speech, Peter Bely, Chairman of the Board of Directors of PJSC Promomed, noted that the main task of the pharmaceutical industry is to develop and produce innovative drugs. "When we make an innovative drug, we get the whole world market at once. Or at least we get the very 3 billion people who live in the BRICS countries, because this is our patent, our development, our molecule. And we are concentrating our efforts in the fastest growing therapeutic areas with a high need for innovative breakthrough therapies," he said.

Petr Bely noted the importance of government support for pharmaceutical companies: "The government has developed a very effective fast-track system, where we do not reduce the volume of clinical trials, but reduce the bureaucratic stage. Thus, we gain significantly in the speed of bringing new drugs to the market."

At the same time, Petr Bely noted the great interest in pharmaceutical companies' securities on the stock market. "We must not forget that biopharma and biopharmaceuticals are a story of multiple growth. And we are ready to share this growth. We understand that stock market participants are also very interested in this. And we are ready to cooperate effectively with them," the speaker stressed.