St. Petersburg Pharmaceutical cluster: good, but not enough
Swiss pills were given a St. Petersburg residence permitGalina Boyarkova, " <url>"
The Swiss company Novartis opened on June 19 in the Northern capital a plant for the production of medicines with a capacity of 1.5 billion units per year. The desire to participate in public procurement will also force other foreign pharmaceutical giants to enter the St. Petersburg market – if not personally, then placing orders at domestic enterprises.
However, it still won't help to achieve the import substitution target set by the government in the list of vital drugs, experts say.
The pharmaceutical cluster of the Northern Capital has been replenished with a new resident. Today, Swiss Novartis has launched a plant on the territory of the Novoorlovskaya special economic zone.
The capacity of the Novartis-Neva enterprise, which cost the Swiss $138 million, will amount to 1.5 billion drugs per year. According to Zakhar Golant, Chairman of the Board of the non-profit partnership "Union of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Clusters of Russia", this is approximately 15-20% of the production volume of the St. Petersburg pharmaceutical cluster by the end of 2014.
According to Vadim Vlasov, CEO of Novartis-Neva, the St. Petersburg enterprise will produce about 40 items for the treatment of cardiological, neurological, oncological, gastroenterological and endocrinological diseases. They will be intended both for public procurement and for retail sale. Now Novartis supplies about 140 medical products to Russia, including both unique drugs and generic generics.
Novartis' exit to the Northern capital is explained by the large volumes of the Russian market and the desire to be closer to the consumer. However, Vladimir Vlasov admits that the Swiss were pushed to such a step by the policy of the Russian authorities on import substitution. "The company made this decision in 2010, when the government offered foreign companies to establish cooperation in Russia. At the same time, it was announced for the first time that Russian manufacturers would have an advantage when conducting public procurement competitions," he notes.
However, according to the participants, until recently such a priority remained more on paper. "Over the past four years, the government has been adopting a resolution on restricting access to public procurement of foreign medicines in the presence of two or more applications for supplies from manufacturers from the Eurasian Economic Union. But this usually happens at the end of the year, when all the competitions have already been held," comments Dmitry Borisov, commercial director of the St. Petersburg company Polisan.
This year, the measure turned out to be more timely. On June 17, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said that such a resolution would be signed "in the coming days." With its help, the government expects to ensure the implementation of the Pharma 2020 strategy, according to which the share of domestic drugs from the list of vital ones should be 90% by 2018, and by 2020 50% of all drugs sold in value terms should reach 50%.
However, the entry of foreign pharmaceutical giants into the Russian market will not acquire a mass character, Zakhar Golant believes.
"The construction of factories is a huge investment," he notes. According to the expert, it is more likely that foreign pharmaceutical manufacturers will place orders at Russian enterprises. According to him, due to this, only in 2015 the volume of production of the St. Petersburg pharmaceutical cluster will grow by 20% in 2015. "And there is no need for new plants – there are so many of them, it is better to increase the capacity of existing ones," he says.
The fate of residentsCurrently, the St. Petersburg pharmaceutical cluster has more than 100 enterprises, of which about 20% specialize in the production of medicines.
In total, they produce about 100 titles.
The launch of the project of Special Economic Zones providing tax holidays and other benefits to their residents stimulated the emergence of new players in the Northern Capital. However, so far there is only one operating production of "Biocad" on the site of "Neudorf" on the territory of the SEZ (the design capacity is 160 kg of medicines per year). The research division of Geropharma "Farm-Holding" also works there.
The Novartis Neva enterprise became the first pharmaceutical production opened on the territory of the Novoorlovskaya SEZ. However, as explained in the company, commercial production on it will begin no earlier than 2017 – you must first register the drugs and check them for stability.
According to the press service of the St. Petersburg SEZ, by the end of 2015, commissioning works at Vertex and Cytomed enterprises are also expected to begin in Novoorlovskaya. In addition, at the moment, Vital Development Corporation, Orion Medic, and others are being built on its territory.
Geropharm plans to expand its capacities outside of special economic zones – by 2017, the manufacturer intends to create a plant on the territory of the Pushkinskaya industrial zone. Polisan will begin construction of a new site in the Frunzensky district next year. "We have all the infrastructure concentrated there, so it is more profitable than being located in the SEZ, even taking into account all the benefits," says Dmitry Borisov.
Most of the new projects are focused on public procurement for the needs of medical institutions and preferential provision, says Zakhar Golant. "It is still not very profitable to produce medicines for commercial sale here – it is easier to place production in the same Asia," he notes. One of the reasons is that Russian producers of raw materials provide only 10% of the needs of pharmaceutical manufacturers. "And it is more expedient to increase this volume in the high–margin segment than in the mass segment," he emphasizes.
But Polisan considers increasing its presence in the commercial sector to be a promising direction. "The state order is not enough for everyone," says Dmitry Borisov.
Distant prospects of import substitutionDespite such activity of pharmaceutical clusters in St. Petersburg and other regions, according to market participants, it will most likely not be possible to achieve the planned import substitution indicators on time.
"The bar for the desired share of domestic drugs for VED is clearly overstated. By 2018, it is realistic to increase this figure from the current 35% to a maximum of 60%," Dmitry Borisov believes.
According to him, a number of orphan drugs are unique names, it is almost impossible to establish the production of which in Russia. "Only if someone localizes production, but in terms of quantity there are not such large volumes and it is unprofitable," he comments.
In addition, the weakening of the ruble may cause the withdrawal from the market of many drugs of low-end domestic production. "The way out could be the indexation of prices for the exchange rate difference, but so far the government is hesitating, fearing a negative reaction of the population," adds Zakhar Golant.
Earlier, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, referring to expert estimates, said that drug prices will rise by about 20% this year.
Localization of production will only partially recoup this growth. So, during the grand opening of the Novartis-Neva plant, the governor of St. Petersburg, Georgy Poltavchenko, expressed hope that the company would be able to reduce the prices of its drugs by at least 10%. Vadim Vlasov agreed with this forecast.
Dmitry Borisov considers this figure to be real. "Labor and packaging materials are cheaper in Russia. But it will be problematic to reduce the cost of products by more than 10% without compromising quality," he says. In addition, Novartis itself admits that, despite the fact that the plant is located in Russia, the level of localization will not be one hundred percent. All equipment is imported. Raw materials will also be supplied from abroad, at least at the first stage.
Zakhar Golant, on the contrary, believes that in the high-margin segment in which Novartis operates, production costs have little effect on the final price. "The market situation affects much more. If a new drug of a similar purpose enters the market, it will immediately lower prices," he concludes.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru
22.06.2015