Igor Borisenko: "A turbulent period has come, but pharmaceutical companies are adapting quickly"

This year, the changes affected all life spheres of society. The pharmaceutical market has not escaped them either. On November 10, the National Advertising Forum hosted the session «Pharmaceutical communications in the period of serious marketing transformations: new challenges and growth drivers». One of the speakers was Igor Borisenko, strategy and business development, marketing and sales director at Petrovax. The current trends in the drugs promotion and entering of Russian pharmaceutical companies into foreign markets by the example of the domestic company were noted by him.

First, Russian manufacturers will inevitably face the need to improve the quality of their medicinal drug dossiers — without this step, entering the developed eastern and western markets is impossible. Currently, Petrovax portfolio includes drugs that meet the high demands of foreign states, and the company is negotiating to expand their exports. In addition, the speaker gave an example of the immunomodulator Polyoxidonium^® and its successful marketing authorization in Slovakia. Now the per capita sales of this drug in this state exceed even the ones in the Russian market. According to Igor Borisenko, one of the most promising areas of international development is the biotechnological drugs and vaccines export.

The changes that have occurred in the market have also affected new trends in the promotion of medicines. Thus, a significant activity decrease in international pharmaceutical industry has led to the fact that many doctors and KOLs have become much more accessible, and it makes sense to rely on working with the medical community now, including not only the most traditional tools. Igor Borisenko shared his experience of a campaign for one of the products: in 2021, after the launch of Uronext TV advertising, doctors began to prescribe it three times more often than before, which once again reminded that a doctor is also an ordinary man, and this is important to consider when planning campaigns for complex products.

Another growth point for the Russian pharmaceutical companies will be dietary supplements. However, the consumer is becoming more demanding on quality of dietary supplements, and it is important for companies to take this into account when promoting their products.