The pharmaceutical industry named the risks of the project to optimize import substitution in procurement

When put into effect amendments In the procurement legislation proposed by the Ministry of Finance to optimize the system of providing preferences to domestic suppliers, there are two groups of risks for the pharmaceutical industry, according to the Association of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers of the Eurasian Economic Union. According to the head of the association, Alexei Kedrin, when adopting the amendments, problems may arise related to a “temporary gap” due to the abolition of the existing procurement system before the start of the new one, as well as in connection with the abolition of 25 percent price preferences for drugs that are included in the list vital, but not included in the list of socially significant ones.

“According to the letter of the bill, there is a risk of complete abolition of the current system of preferences until a single act of the Russian government is adopted. This may create a bad trend towards the suspension of support measures, which is somewhat contrary to the very essence of the strategy (Pharma 2023. – “Kommersant”), the expert explained during the conference “The Road to Sovereignty in Pharma and Healthcare”, organized by Kommersant. During the session, General Director of Geropharm Pyotr Rodionov also spoke about a possible problem due to the transition period. Deputy Head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Ekaterina Priezzheva said that the risk of a pause is minimal: “for something to stop, it must be abolished by the same regulatory act at the government level.”

Mr. Rodionov also noted that narrowing the range of drugs that are provided with price preferences may lead to the fact that manufacturers will have little incentive to switch to Russian substances.

During the conference, CEO of Pharmstandard JSC Dmitry Zaitsev also drew attention to how the project formulates measures to support goods with a higher degree of localization. The wording, according to him, sounds like this: “Russian goods are equal to foreign ones.” This, according to the expert, does not allow preferences to be divided between more and less localized drugs.

The government approved the Ministry of Finance’s bill on changing the rules of national treatment for suppliers in February, and on March 20 it passed the first reading. The project involves the abandonment of some of the current mechanisms – for example, the “third wheel” rule – only the more stringent “second wheel” rule will remain (refusal of foreign products if there is an offer from a Russian manufacturer). The price preference for Russian goods will be 15%. If competition between several Russian products arises, the product with a higher technological level of production will have an advantage.

Read more in the Kommersant article. “Procurements will be protected from imports”.