Kommersant learned about the final departure of Eli Lilly from Russia

The American pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly decided to leave the Russian market completely, transferring the local business to the distributor Swixx Biopharma, its partner in Central and Eastern Europe, writes “Kommersant”.

According to two former employees of Lilly Pharma, the Russian division of Eli Lilly, preparations for the transfer of the Russian business began in late February with a change in top management at the company’s representative office. Some of the Lilly Pharma employees, together with top management, will move to a new structure that Swixx Biopharma will create to distribute Eli Lilly drugs in Russia.

As noted by the interlocutors of the publication, Swixx Biopharma is likely to distribute those drugs that Eli Lilly continued to supply to Russia after announcing a year ago that it was suspending exports of its products to the Russian Federation and investing in clinical trials. Thus, the company promised to keep supplies of Humalog insulin, Trulicity, an antidiabetic drug, and Zenlistik, Cyramza, Alimta, and Gemzar cancer drugs.

According to one of the sources of the newspaper, the transfer of local business management to Swixx Biopharma is an attempt by Eli Lilly to keep most of the revenue in the commercial segment, which accounts for a significant share of sales in Russia. The company will also be able to return if foreign policy conditions change, he said. The share of Eli Lilly in the Russian market at the end of 2022 was 0.52%, or 11.6 billion rubles. after 14 billion rubles. a year earlier.

Eli Lilly became the second foreign pharmaceutical company to leave Russia and transfer the business to Swixx Biopharma. Same thing last May enrolled American Bristol-Myers Squibb.

After the start of the special operation in Ukraine, several large foreign pharmaceutical companies limited their work in Russia. Gilead has suspended all non-essential drug operations. pfizer, Bayer, Gilead, Novartis, MSD, Sanofi, and AbbVie continue to ship, but have suspended investments or clinical studies. Johnson & Johnson said it is suspending the supply of personal care products, but will continue to import medicines and medical devices.