FMBA explained mass public procurement of potassium iodide

FMBA explained mass public procurement of potassium iodide



The appearance on the public procurement website of a new lot for a batch of potassium iodide, which helps to level the effect of radiation exposure, in the amount of 4.8 million rubles caused a stir on the Internet. People lively discuss the situation from the angle of "it's all for a reason." In pharmacies, as the MK observer was convinced, the drug is available, but the professional association of pharmacy enterprises reports that increased demand has been observed since spring. We tried to understand the situation.

An application from the Federal State Budgetary Institution SPC Pharmzashchita of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency of Russia for the purchase of the pharmaceutical substance potassium iodide appeared on the public procurement website. The purchase amount is 4,850,000 rubles, the implementation period is 4 days. The news about this spread through the tapes and telegram channels and caused a stir among users. “Last year this didn’t happen”, “why so much iodine?”, “Are they going to save a hundred people there?”, “From radiation, like a dead poultice, gamma particles will cause the decay of organs, and iodine will only help the thyroid gland,” - here only a few responses from netizens in response to the news.

In order to understand what such a public procurement is connected with, MK turned to the Federal Medical and Biological Agency for clarification and received a response from the head of the public relations and protocol department I.V. In the procurement system, a purchase was published for the supply of a pharmaceutical substance (potassium iodide) in the amount of 4,850,000 rubles. This purchase was placed as part of meeting the planned needs of the enterprise for 2023-2024. The purchase is annual and has a planned character.

In addition, we talked with a representative of the Pharmzaschita enterprise itself. “We have a secure enterprise, we produce special drugs, that is, antidotes and radioprotective drugs, no one hides this,” they told us there. - We produce drugs on a full cycle - from the pharmaceutical substance to the finished dosage form.

From pharmaceutical substances that are purchased, we produce means for preventing the accumulation of radioactive isotopes of iodine. They are used, among other things, for the prevention and treatment of thyroid diseases.

But, since we have a special enterprise, we are focused on a non-pharmacy segment. For example, we provide various departments, including the Ministry of Emergency Situations, with radioprotectors and antidotes, including for carbon monoxide poisoning.

Or here is our drug B-190 - a means of emergency medical care to reduce the severity of the consequences of external radiation consequences, the prevention and treatment of acute radiation sickness. This is not a pharmacy drug, it is used and purchased by nuclear power plants.”

In the pharmacies, meanwhile, everything is calm - the people who massively buy iodine preparations were not noticed during the MK raid. We visited several pharmacies in the capital: medicines based on potassium iodide have not disappeared from the market. “You are the first to ask them today,” said a pharmacist in one of the pharmacies near the Pushkinskaya metro station.

However, as the director of the SRO Association of Independent Pharmacies, the head of the Alliance of Pharmaceutical Associations, Victoria Presnyakova, told MK, pharmacies have recorded a significant demand for potassium iodide since the spring of this year: “So far, there is no exact analytical data on how much it has grown, they will come later. There are sufficient quantities of the drug in the warehouses of distributors, it is produced by several Russian and foreign manufacturers. There is no shortage."

Meanwhile, experts note that potassium iodide will not be of much use in case of problems with radiation. According to Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor of the First Moscow State Medical University named after Sechenov (Sechenov University), clinical pharmacologist Marina Zhuravleva, preparations based on the active substance potassium iodide are used for various diseases and conditions associated with the thyroid gland: “Iodine is vital trace element, which is an integral part of the hormones thyroxine and triiodothyronine. Thyroid hormones are involved in the functioning of many organs and systems, regulate metabolic processes, including those responsible for the metabolism of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, regulate the activity of the cardiovascular, nervous systems, etc.

Therefore, such drugs are often used to prevent and treat iodine deficiency and iodine deficiency diseases. In addition, potassium iodide is used as a radioprotective agent, since they are involved in the synthesis of thyroid hormones: when they enter the cells, iodine ions form elemental iodine, which partially passes into thyroid hormones.

In high doses, potassium iodide blocks the accumulation of radioactive iodine in the thyroid gland, so it is also used to protect the gland itself from exposure to radioactive isotopes of iodine, for example, by inhaling fumes, drinking water, and drinking foods contaminated with radioactive iodine. That is, the drug protects the thyroid gland (and only) from exposure to radioactive isotopes. It is useless for the protection of other organs.”

Published in the newspaper "Moskovsky Komsomolets" No. 28878 dated September 28, 2022

Newspaper headline:
Everything is fine with iodide



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