R-Pharm opened its drug research center

While international pharmaceutical manufacturers have noticeably reduced clinical trials of drugs in Russia, the R-Pharm company founded by Alexey Repik has launched a Research Lab medical center in Moscow. He will conduct tests of generics launched by the company on the market. On the one hand, experts say, this can speed up the research process, but on the other hand, the experience of other pharmaceutical companies, such as Biocad, shows that such projects often turn out to be unprofitable.

As Kommersant discovered in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, at the beginning of October 2023, the sole owner of Research Lab LLC, which manages the Research Lab medical center, became the founder of R-Pharm, Alexey Repik. Before this, 51% of the company belonged to the director of the department of preclinical and clinical development of R-Pharm, Olga Filon. R-Pharm declined to comment.

The Research Lab website says that it is a “research medical center with its own laboratory cluster” for clinical research and is located in the building of the former Swiss Medica clinic on Annenskaya Street in Moscow. It was founded in October 2022 and received a license in January of this year.

Eqiva consultant Maria Kolomentseva estimates the volume of investment in creating the center, including repairs and basic medical equipment, at 200–300 million rubles. She admits that less funds could have been required, since the medical center opened on the basis of a facility equipped for medical needs.

From the register of clinical trials of the Ministry of Health it follows that since the beginning of 2023, R-Pharm has been conducting bioequivalence studies of its generics only in this center. It also states that all three phases of trials of other drugs involve other sites. It is unknown whether the Research Lab conducts research from third parties.

As Kommersant reported on October 9, over the three quarters of 2023, Russian pharmaceutical manufacturers received 12% more year-on-year approvals for clinical trials of new drugs. At the same time, international players, who froze investments in the Russian Federation after the outbreak of the military conflict in Ukraine, significantly reduced such tests.

R-Pharm has a large portfolio of generics, so opening its own center for research is justified; this can ensure the necessary speed of testing, says IPharm CEO Natalya Rabinovich. In addition, adds Alexander Vasiliev, chief researcher of the Umedi network, this will allow the company to organize and control the tests itself, without relying on third-party centers.

However, the experience of other pharmaceutical companies in creating centers for researching their own drugs has not yet been very successful. Former CEO of Biocad Dmitry Morozov launched the Uninova center in 2020 worth 285 million rubles. But now the clinic is closed: its website and phone number do not work. The center manager, ANO “MITSLT “Yuninova””, according to Kartoteka.ru, did not generate revenue in 2022. Biocad does not comment on this, but indicates that they conduct research in large federal and regional research centers.

Director of new products at Promomed, Kira Zaslavskaya, sees no point in concentrating research efforts in one place. This company, for example, brings to the market drugs for various diseases. Therefore, according to Ms. Zaslavskaya, it is impossible to conduct the necessary studies at just one site – this does not provide wide access to patients with diseases and conditions for which the drugs are being tested.

Maria Kolomentseva also points out that for the medical services market, conducting clinical trials of drugs is a non-standard specialization. According to her, a number of private clinics work in this area, but this is not a driver for them. Thus, the Uninova center ended 2021 with a loss of 99.4 million rubles. with revenue of 80.3 million rubles.

Polina Gritsenko