Astellas has stopped producing the antibiotic vilprafen in Russia – Kommersant
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The Japanese company Astellas has decided to withdraw the antibiotic vilprafen from the Russian market, reported RBC. It is used to treat infections of the respiratory tract, ENT organs, infections in dentistry and ophthalmology. The Ministry of Health suggested replacing it with the drug azithromycin, but it is not suitable for everyone.
Of the 2.5 thousand Moscow pharmacies that are connected to the Megapteka aggregator, vilprafen solutab was available in only one of them; vilprafen is not available anywhere. According to RBC, the antibiotic is also not available in any of the pharmacies in St. Petersburg, Perm and Tambov.
The Zio-Zdorovye company told the publication that Astellas decided to stop production of josamycin (the international generic name for vilprafen) and withdraw it from the Russian market. The Japanese pharmaceutical company confirmed the cessation of production of vilprafen. At the same time, as Astellas clarified, the remaining drugs will remain in the country.
Sales of Astellas’ outgoing antibiotics, despite a general decline in demand for this category, were growing. According to the DSM Group, in ten months of 2023, 1.4 million (+17%) packages of vilprafen were sold in Russia for 915.8 million rubles. (+15%).
The press service of the Ministry of Health told RBC that the stocks of vilprafen in hospitals will last for about six months, in pharmacies – for less than a month. The ministry proposed replacing josamycin with drugs with the international nonproprietary names azithromycin and clarithromycin. They did not comment on reports of the withdrawal of josamycin from the Russian market.
As a study by the Agency for Transformation and Economic Development (ATRE) has shown, although the majority of players in the Russian pharmaceutical industry call the creation of new drugs important for themselves, they invest little in their development and noticeably lag behind manufacturers in other countries in terms of innovation.
Read more in the Kommersant article. “The pharmaceutical industry lacked innovation”.
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