Pharmaceuticals - 2022: Legal Issues, Annual Conference of Pravo.ru

In March and April, the pharmaceutical market experienced a roaring demand for drugs. It has subsided for now, but questions remain about how to regulate the price of vital drugs and ensure their availability in pharmacies. Laywers discussed the issue at Pharmaceuticals - 2022: Legal Issues, Annual Conference of Pravo.ru Also on the agenda were patent litigation (including pre-action remedy), tax issues, risk-sharing, electronic prescriptions and support programmes for patients.

In a situation where the supply of drugs from abroad may decrease, it makes sense to support the domestic manufacturers. However, risks should be weighted as well. The report on this issue was delivered by Oksana Pavlukhina, Head of Antitrust Practice Group at ART DE LEX law firm. The current ‘two’s not company’ initiative involves excluding from a competitive procurement a supplier who wants to sell goods of foreign origin, if the competitor offers goods made in Russia, the EAEC countries, the DNR or the LNR. In addition, Pavlukhina also spoke about the preferences for manufacturers who have a complete production cycle in the Russian Federation. Any such programme must be evaluated in terms of risks to patients, the lawyer believes. Among them, she cited shortages of certain drugs and denial of access to therapy for patients with individual intolerances, on whom generics may have an uncertain effect. There is a risk that foreign companies will leave the market, Pavlukhina warned. So far, 60% of the money is spent on the purchase of foreign drugs, and 20% on packages, according to the statistics provided by the laywer.

Read more here: https://pravo.ru/story/240338/