Pharmasyntez may invest in the production of dialysis drugs

A major manufacturer of vital drugs, Pharmasyntez Group of Companies, Vikram Punia, is preparing a new project. The group plans to start producing dialysis drugs, probably in partnership with the local structure of the American Baxter, the main player in this market in Russia. The demand for dialysis solutions is stable, but experts see prospects for the new supplier in the government order market.

Vikram Punia’s large drug manufacturer Pharmasyntez Group plans to invest in the production of dialysis drugs, a market source told Kommersant. According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, in September Mr. Punia became the owner of 70% of Novodial LLC, created this summer. Another 30% of this company belongs to Alexey Kataev, the general director of the Russian structure of the American supplier of drugs and equipment for dialysis Baxter. Pharmasyntez and the Russian office of Baxter did not provide a comment.

Pharmasyntez was founded by Russian businessman of Indian origin Vikram Punia in 1997. Today it unites five factories in Irkutsk, Ussuriysk, St. Petersburg, Bratsk, Tyumen. The portfolio includes more than 300 types of drugs and over 60 types of substances. More than 80% of drugs are included in the list of vital drugs (VED). In 2021, the revenue of Pharmasyntez JSC increased by 33%, to 27.11 billion rubles, net profit was 10.9 billion rubles. There are no financial indicators for 2022.

Dialysis is used to artificially remove waste products and excess fluid from the body, in particular it is prescribed for kidney problems. DSM Group CEO Sergei Shulyak believes that Novodial will most likely produce solutions for Baxter equipment. Filtration systems and solutions for peritoneal dialysis are made for devices from a specific manufacturer, he explains. The expert estimates the approximate cost of launching the production of solutions at 2–3 billion rubles. Pharmasyntez has well-developed production facilities and launching a new project should not be very expensive, notes Nikolai Bespalov, development director at RNC Pharma. He also does not foresee any difficulties with the production of dialysis solutions: these are a set of salts and glucose or dextrose.

According to RNC Pharma, in January-July 2023 in Russia, 409 thousand packages of peritoneal dialysis drugs worth 691 million rubles were sold at retail. at distributor prices. Year-on-year sales decreased by 5% and 6%, respectively. According to Nikolai Bespalov, overall market turnover is stable. For the entire 2022, 701 thousand packages of such drugs were sold worth 1.23 billion rubles, which is comparable to the results of 2021. According to Headway Company, since 2021, the volume of purchases of drugs for peritoneal dialysis under government orders has also remained stable. In January-August, 328.4 thousand packages of such drugs were purchased for 1.06 billion rubles.

According to Mr. Bespalov, currently about 65% of drugs for peritoneal dialysis on the Russian market are supplied by Baxter, 35% by the structure of the German Fresenius Medical Care AG&Co Fresenius SP. Several dialysis drugs for the latter were included in the list of potentially defective drugs at the beginning of 2023 by decision of the Ministry of Health commission, reported Pharmaceutical Bulletin and Medvestnik. The Ministry of Health and Fresenius SP did not answer Kommersant.

Deputy Chairman of the Association of Nephrologists of Russia for the Central Federal District, Dmitry Artemov, notes that the dialysis market faces an acute issue with the shortage of caps and some other components for automated peritoneal dialysis. According to him, these items are not produced in Russia, and import is complicated. For packaging solutions, Mr. Artemov adds, special polymers are also needed. Junior Researcher, Russian National Research Medical University named after. N.I. Pirogova Denis Borozdenko notes that the Russian manufacturer will have priority in the purchase of dialysis solutions under government orders. But private dialysis centers are in demand only in Moscow and St. Petersburg, where voluntary health insurance services are common, he adds.

Ekaterina Rakitina