If foreign firms refuse to deliver medications to Russia, Russia will make them on its own - minister

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY. March 27 (Interfax) - Russian Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov has said that if foreign companies refuse to deliver medications to Russia, the compulsory licensing procedure may be applied, and Russia will make these drugs on its own.

"If these supplies are stopped, we will produce them on our own," Manturov said in an interview with journalist Pavel Zarubin during the Moscow. Kremlin. Putin program shown on the Rossiya 1 (VGTRK) television channel.

Russia has the formulas to produce these drugs, the minister said.

"That's why, no one should make us do it. We are ready to acquire everything in a civilized way," Manturov said.

As an example, Manturov referred to the situation around the remdesivir drug, which is produced in Russia at the Russian government's directive without consent from the patent holders.

"I can share information with you. Back then, when in 2020 one of the foreign companies set the price of $480 per vial of the antiviral Covid drug, we asked them to choose a normal price. But colleagues refused to do it. We had to resort to compulsory licensing and to start producing it on our own," Manturov said.

On December 30, 2021, the Russian government allowed the Pharmsynthez pharmaceutical company to manufacture the remdesivir drug, which is used in treating patients with Covid-19, for another year without the patentee's consent. The decision stemmed from "an extraordinary necessity related to the protection of the people's lives and health," according to the relevant directive. The Russian government had earlier authorized Pharmsynthez to manufacture remdesivir for one year without the patentees' consent in line with a directive dated December 31, 2020. Gilead Sciences, Inc. failed to have the decision overruled at the Russian Supreme Court in May 2021.

Russia earlier included remdesivir in the list of vital and critical medicinal drugs for 2021. Pharmsynthez registered the price limit for the drug Remdeform at 7,400 rubles, excluding VAT. Gilead set the price for remdesivir for developed countries at $390 per vial and planned to sell the drug in Russia at 28,000 rubles.