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The OTCPharm Pro plant to open in Kaliningrad will manufacture a wide range of pharmaceuticals the Russian market needs, including antibiotics, antivirals, immunomodulators, analgesics, nootropics and mucolytics.

The Biokhimik facility in Saransk will launch the production of 130 pharmaceutical substances, including medications to treat oncological and cardiovascular diseases and HIV, as well as antibiotics, anti-inflammatory drugs and myorelaxants.

The second stage of the Pharmasyntez-Nord plant in St Petersburg will increase the production of biotechnological pharmaceutical substances and drugs for oncological and autoimmune diseases in humans, as well as genetically engineered insulins and the Sputnik Light Covid-19 vaccine.

Taking part in the event were Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov, Minister of Healthcare Mikhail Murashko, Head of the Republic of Mordovia Artem Zdunov, Governor of the Kaliningrad Region Anton Alikhanov, Governor of St Petersburg Alexander Beglov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Promomed Pyotr Bely, OTCPharm CEO Olga Mednikova, and Pharmasyntez President Vikram Singh Punia.

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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Colleagues, good afternoon.

Today, we are opening three new major pharmaceutical enterprises at once. They include a Biokhimik facility in Saransk for producing pharmaceutical substances, an OTCPharm Pro plant in Kaliningrad – as far as I know, it is already up and running – as well as the second stage of the Pharmasyntez-Nord plant in St Petersburg.

I would like to thank all the specialists who were involved in these important projects. Friends, your efforts made a meaningful contribution to developing the domestic pharmaceutical industry and to expanding its capabilities.

The steady and sustained operation of this sector is vital for our country, and for ensuring that our people can access affordable quality medicines. This was the case during the Covid pandemic, when the Russian pharmaceutical industry succeeded in launching the production of the medications we needed within a very tight timeframe, saving the lives and health of millions of people.

Let me note that overall, the sector has been gathering momentum. Mr Manturov delivered a progress report on this sector back in January during a meeting with Government members. I will now ask you to offer us a more detailed review of the state of affairs regarding the production of pharmaceutical substances.

Today's event is another step in boosting the production of effective domestic drugs, which, among other things, will replace the imported analogues patients need, medications that treat a number of dangerous and socially significant diseases.

I would also like to note that such high-tech industries create additional jobs for qualified workers, contribute to the growth of tax revenues, and in this regard, they bring tangible benefits to the entire Russian economy.

I hope that the national pharmaceutical industry will continue to grow steadily. We need to increase the production of substances in Russia, and increase the share of locally produced medicines on the domestic market, including original drugs. We also need to become more independent from foreign suppliers, especially those of them who have been creating numerous complications for us.

To deliver on all these objectives, and to achieve all of them, we need to upgrade equipment and build new production facilities, improve technology, nurture talent and expand the technical capabilities of our research and development laboratories and centres, as well as fine-tune training of specialists, including manufacturing chemists, pharmaceutical experts and pharmacists.

Of course, the state will continue improving its support mechanisms for this sector. In particular, this year, we will launch a programme to issue preferential investment loans for creating facilities that would make pharmaceutical substances and cover the complete production cycle of medicines.

I would like to conclude by wishing all of you, colleagues, and everyone working in this sector, success in your future work and all the very best.

Mr Manturov, you have the floor, please.

Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov: Mr President,

The pharmaceutical industry, just like many other sectors, has a system-wide task of achieving technological sovereignty. The crucial part here is to provide the sector with Russian-made substances.

Last year, another seven Russian enterprises launched their production. The enterprises with the biggest capacity opened in the Primorye Territory, the Sverdlovsk and Belgorod regions. Overall, some 100 pharmaceutical companies produce substances for their own needs and for the market. Together, they provide a full production cycle for over half of the essential and vital medicines’ list. This year, we hope to provide our own substances for another 10 percent of drugs from this list.

The Saransk-based Biokhimik plant, one of those opening today, will make a significant contribution to this task in terms of its capacities and types of substances. The second stage of the Pharmasyntez-Nord plant that is being launched in St Petersburg will produce biotechnological raw materials. Both enterprises have received low-interest loans from the Industry Development Fund worth a total of 3 billion rubles.

In the future, we will support the creation of such production facilities, as you noted, through a new cluster investment platform mechanism. We are working on 12 projects worth 80 billion rubles to produce almost 150 types of substances. This is a comprehensive initiative that includes the selection and synthesis of molecules, the development of production technology and the organisation of the serial production of thousands of tonnes of pharmaceutical substances per year.

The substitution of imported raw materials is the key factor for ensuring our country’s sustainable medicine supply. No less important is scaling up the production of medicines themselves. We are taking two measures to this end by launching production facilities in Kaliningrad to produce non-prescription medicines and by boosting the production of anticancer drugs at the plant in St Petersburg that I mentioned. It meets the needs of our healthcare system and our citizens, and also expands the geography of the Russian pharmaceutical industry.

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Vladimir Putin: Mr Murashko, I know you are on the line. This year, drug production grew by 10 percent, and the production of pharmaceutical substances increased by over 7 percent.

What are the plans for the future, and how do you work with the industry?

Healthcare Minister Mikhail Murashko: Mr President, colleagues,

First of all, I want to thank all producers because during the pandemic, Russian drug producers took on almost the entire burden of providing people with medicines, and most medicines were full-cycle drugs that were created by Russian manufacturers and scientific teams.

I want to say that to date, 82 percent of the 810 international non-patented vital and essential medicines are made in Russia. In terms of full cycle production, over 53 percent of medicines are produced domestically.

I would like to say that Russian-made medicines account for over 80 percent of the medicines on the state procurement list. As Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has pointed out, our area of focus, including the rational use of funds allocated for the healthcare sector, allows us to actually increase the provision of medicines in many areas, in particular for treating tuberculosis and HIV infection, including expensive medicines, while staying within the budgets that have been planned. This cost-effective and rational approach and the high-quality medicines we are producing ensure a sufficient supply of medicines to our healthcare system.

I would like to add that the Healthy Society Forum was held at the Tauride Palace in St Petersburg on March 23–24 within the framework of our efforts to support the pharmaceutical industry and to inform our doctors and our foreign colleagues about the advantages of Russia’s pharmaceutical industry. Its participants included healthcare ministers from the CIS counties. Nearly all our innovative medicines were presented at the forum, including immunobiological drugs, vaccines and serums. We also demonstrated our AI-based medicines, 22 of which have already been registered in the country. The forum was held at a very high level. We have received positive feedback from all healthcare officials and our neighbours.

This is having a positive influence on the exports of our producers.

Mr President, we are clearly moving in line with our policy of developing and supporting the pharmaceutical industry. The main thing is that we have a huge innovative capacity, which we are using today. I am referring to generic drugs which are boosting figures.

Vladimir Putin: Friends, colleagues,

I am confident that all the investments that have been made and will be made – I know, for example, that a third plant is being designed for St Petersburg – will be recouped and will help boost our [pharmaceutical] business. But the main thing is that everything we are doing will benefit our people. The state will do everything in its power to ensure the implementation of your plans. I have no doubt that this is how it will be.

Congratulations. I would like to wish you all the best and every success.