Suppliers of medicines to pharmacies are strengthening their work in the government segment

Suppliers of medicines to pharmacies are strengthening their work in the government segment in the face of declining growth rates in the commercial market. Thus, the distributor Grand Capital was included in the state program “14 high-cost nosologies”, claiming to supply one of the most expensive drugs, purchased for 6–7 billion rubles. in year. The budget segment has stable pay, but requires expenses for a separate team, experts say.

Pharmaceutical distributor Grand Capital entered into the first contract with the Federal Center for Planning and Drug Provision of Citizens of the Ministry of Health under the state program “14 high-cost nosologies” (14 VZN), discovered “Kommersant” on the government procurement portal. The company will supply eculizumab for an orphan disease – atypical hemolytic-uremic syndrome – for 755 million rubles.

Eculizumab is one of the most expensive drugs in the state program, which is centrally purchased annually for 6–7 billion rubles. In 2023, 6.9 billion rubles were allocated for drug purchases. Traditionally, the supplier of the drug under the name “Elizaria” of “Generium” is Viktor Kharitonin’s Pharmstandard.

Denis Remenyako’s Grand Capital, according to DSM Group, at the end of 2022 was the fourth distributor of retail medicines, occupying 9.9% of this market. The revenue of the parent structure of FC Grand Capital in 2022 increased by 13.6%, to 113.9 billion rubles, net profit more than doubled, to 775.7 million rubles. The group also includes the Heart of Russia pharmacy chain, which includes over 200 points.

Grand Capital previously participated only in regional government procurement. The company told Kommersant that strengthening budget sales is one of the company’s priorities. They say that in the next five years they plan to become one of the leaders in the state segment, supplying drugs not only under 14 VZN, but also other federal programs. For this purpose, a team of managers headed by Andrey Telyatnikov, who previously worked in the distribution companies Lancet, Irwin-2 and GP, was invited to Grand Capital. The latter, in three years since the start of work under government contracts, has become one of the ten largest distributors in this market, reported the industry publication GxP News.

The growth rate of the commercial pharmaceutical market is slowing down, and distributors are trying to diversify their business, explains DSM Group CEO Sergei Shulyak. According to DSM Group, in 2022, sales of drugs in retail pharmacies, in conditions of rush demand in the spring, increased by 15.4% in money terms; this year, company analysts expect an increase of 6.4% year-on-year.

Other distributors traditionally operating in the pharmacy segment – Protek, Pulse and BSS – have already entered the budget market. General Director of CV Protek Dmitry Pogrebinsky says that the company is increasing its share of direct participation in auctions and considers this segment one of the priorities of its business strategy for the coming years. On the contrary, the distributor “Katren” announced back in 2019 that it was ceasing to work in the budget market. Pulse, BSS and Katren did not answer Kommersant’s questions.

As Sergey Shulyak notes, the government segment is quite complex and requires expenses for a separate unit. According to him, when sales in the pharmacy segment grew more noticeably, distributors were in no hurry to develop the budget line. RNC Pharma Development Director Nikolay Bespalov points out that the budget market is attractive due to the stability of financing and guarantee of payment. According to him, now the risks of non-payment for goods have increased for distributors in pharmaceutical retail, and they are demanding additional guarantees from pharmacies.

In 2022–2023, two large distributors operating in the commercial market faced difficulties. Profitmed is going through bankruptcy proceedings, in which Pharmstandard is trying to join (see Kommersant on September 19). In October of this year, the closure manufacturer Eurocap and Sberbank filed for bankruptcy of the Perm drug supplier Godovalov.

Polina Gritsenko