2022: new opportunities for Russian pharmaceutical companies
Although pharmaceutical industry remains one of the few areas that have not fallen under direct sanctions in the current difficult economic and geopolitical situation, it has suffered significantly from their «side effects». These are logistics and auxiliary components and equipment supply issues, difficulties in paying for supplies.
At the Pharmtech & Ingredients conference held at the end of November in Moscow, the issues devoted to the Russian manufacturers coping with challenges, areas of development and possible prospects were discussed.
The Petrovax speakers, Mikhail Grubman, managing director of biotechnology business, and Igor Borisenko, strategy and business development, marketing and sales director, reported during the sessions devoted to the import substitution, Russian drugs export and prospects for international cooperation, as well as the development of the dietary supplements market.
Igor Borisenko said that the company started to operate in the food supplements and OTC segment just three years ago, but even in such a short period of time, product launches showed a huge growth: «Next year, we plan to be more relaxed about marketing promotion, because we saw that in contemporary turbulent market the solution price is very high. When planning a large media campaign, we must consider the risk of external factors that could jeopardize it».
Now the company strives to weigh all the risks as much as possible when creating long-term plans. «While creating our strategy, we focus on how the market is developing, what is happening with competitors and what starting point we ourselves are at,» Igor Borisenko summed up.
He added that even though the company manages to maintain the development rates, there are some logistical risks that import substitution will help prevent in the future. It is the import substitution that has become a key challenge for the entire industry in 2022. According to the speaker, it is important for Russia to develop its raw material base for the dietary supplements production. This market, which has recently been formed in our country, is very promising; significant growth is expected soon.
Mikhail Grubman also assesses positively the future of national pharmaceutical industry, noting the export potential of Russian companies. «Our export is growing very actively. We traditionally export our influenza vaccines, this year we relaunched the quadrivalent vaccine Grippol Quadrivalent, and, generally speaking, 95% of our products was exported, and to foreign markets. Last year export in monetary terms amounted to RUB 2 billion, this year it will exceed RUB 3 billion. In addition, we continue to focus on the markets of the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. They are promising both in terms of population and in terms of the scope of demand for our products.
If we talk about the sanctions impact, this year we were afraid that our Slovak companies being our partners more than 10 years would refuse to continue cooperation. But our fears were groundless».
The current geopolitical situation creates not only challenges, but also additional opportunities motivating manufacturers to develop their existing portfolio and look for new directions for business expansion.
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