Andrey Ivashchenko: “For technological sovereignty it is necessary to ensure continuous innovation process of development and manufacture of the next generations of drugs”
Andrey Aleksandrovich Ivashchenko, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of ChemRar Group, spoke at “Road to Sovereignty in Pharma and Healthcare” discussion organized by Kommersant Publishing House.
In June 2023, the Russian Government approved the Pharma-2030 Pharmaceutical Industry Development Strategy prepared by the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade. During the discussion, participants discussed priorities and support measures included in the new Pharma-2030 to stimulate and develop the industry, regulatory changes, import substitution, risks and other issues. The discussion was attended by pharmaceutical industry experts – heads of major Russian pharmaceutical companies, such as Andrey Ivashchenko, Chairman of the Board of Directors of ChemRar Group, Peter Rodionov, CEO of Geropharm, Dmitry Zaitsev, CEO of Pharmstandard, Evgenia Shapiro, Head of PSK Pharma, Aleksey Kedrin, Chairman of the Board of Association of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers of the Eurasian Economic Union (APhPEAEU), etc. The event was opened by Yekaterina Gennadyevna Priezzheva, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation.
Andrey Aleksandrovich Ivashchenko stressed in his speech that now the pharmaceutical industry shall start a new stage of development, which was laid down in Pharma-2020 Program, but has not been implemented yet – it is a transition from generic to innovative development model, in particular, to the creation of own development lines, without which it is impossible to talk about technological sovereignty of the country. “Russian manufacturers have learned well how to make generic drugs, now they shall learn how to make the next generation of drugs. But to do this, we need to bridge the gap between science and industry – it is the first and the second phase of clinical trials, where the highest scientific risks are. Scientific organizations have no funds for the “clinic”, and our industry, which makes money on generic models, looks, at best, at innovative projects already in the third phase – where the main scientific risks have been removed. To develop innovations, we need both financial and regulatory tools. Regulatory tools include so-called fast track registration for domestic innovative drugs, which need to be defined; as well as mechanisms for scientific consulting, which should be made mandatory for the regulator; in addition, it is necessary to synchronize the rules for “green patents” combating at the level of the EAEU, so that it corresponds to the practices adopted in the Russian Federation”, – said Andrey Ivashchenko.
In his speech, Andrey Aleksandrovich Ivashchenko also shared his vision of how to increase an inflow of innovations to Russia in order to create our own critically needed new generation drugs. Mr. Ivashchenko sees the solution to this issue in cooperation with partners and transfer of developments from friendly countries: “There is a great potential for cooperation, including with China, and in this sense, special support measures would partially cover the needs of innovative import substitution by creating next-in-class drugs with their own development lines in Russia on the basis of those scientific deposits, those molecules that have emerged in friendly countries”.
The recording of “Road to Sovereignty in Pharma and Healthcare” discussion is available at the link: https://youtu.be/n9LWVHPWFU8