Biopharmaceutical company Biopharma (Kyiv) has collected COVID-19 plasma for the production of the first batch of hyperimmune immunoglobulin, President of the company Kostiantyn Yefymenko has said.
Biopharma has collected 2,200 liters of COVID-19 plasma. For the first loading of the fractionator, 1,800 liters are needed, we have an even larger volume,” he told reporters during a visit to the company’s plasma center in Kyiv on Tuesday, November 24.
Yefymenko said that the company plans to carry out the first load of the fractionator next week to produce the first batch of hyperimmune immunoglobulin from the plasma of people who have had COVID-19.
According to Yefymenko, it takes eight or nine days to produce the drug.
The company started collecting COVID-19 plasma in May, but the collection process was slow at that time as the number of people who had COVID-19 was small.
“Now the speed of plasma collection has increased,” Yefymenko said.
He reported that the cost of one bottle of the drug can reach UAH 10,000, three or four bottles could be needed for treatment.
The production of one bottle requires about 2.5 liters of plasma. During one donation, a donor can donate up to 800 milliliters of plasma.
Biopharma is a Ukrainian biotechnology company, the only plant in Eastern Europe that has modern technologies, has been producing and developing drugs from donor plasma for almost 50 years.
The company is focused on providing medicines to Ukraine and on a contract basis, supplies its products to more than 30 countries around the world. In the fall of 2019, Biopharma moved its production to a new research and production complex in Bila Tserkva.
The company is developing a network of its own plasma centers. Now they work in Sumy, Shostka, Konotop, Cherkasy, Dnipro and Kharkiv.
The mobile network operator Vodafone Ukraine estimates investments in the 4G project in the 900 MHz (LTE 900) band at UAH 4 billion.
“If we talk about investments in general, according to our estimates, only the LTE 900 technology project will take about UAH 4 billion. This is a lot of money. At the same time, we are increasing the network capacity in large cities. We are investing in transport. And this is only the LTE 900 figures,” CEO of Vodafone Ukraine Olha Ustinova said at a briefing on Tuesday.
4G MOBILE, MOBILE, MOBILE NETWORK, MOBILE OPERATOR, VODAFONE
JSC Ukrzaliznytsia will launch the high-speed train Intercity + No. 745/746 Kyiv-Slavske (Lviv region) from December 15.
According to the press service of Ukrzaliznytsia on Tuesday, November 24, the high-speed train Hyundai Rotem will run on this route. Train No. 745 will depart from Kyiv-Pasazhyrsky station at 05.59 and arrive in Slavske at 13.16.
In the opposite direction from Slavske, train No. 746 will depart at 16.20 and arrive at Kyiv-Pasazhyrsky station at 23.57.
On the way, the train will stop at the following stations: Korosten, Pidzamche, Lviv and Stryi.
Tickets can be purchased at railway ticket offices or online.
The volume of sales of enterprises in the service sector of Ukraine in the third quarter of 2020 amounted to UAH 238.3 billion, which in comparable prices is 5.5% lower than the level of the third quarter of 2019, the State Statistics Service has said.
According to the report, the volume of services sold to the population amounted to 19.3% of the total volume of services rendered.
The State Statistics Service reminds that in the first quarter of 2020 the volume of sales of service enterprises decreased by 1.7%, in the second quarter by 18.3%.
SkyUp (Kyiv) in the summer program of 2021 has planned more than 60 routes to 21 countries, of which 50% are from the regions.
According to the press service of the company, in particular, in addition to flights to France, Italy, Greece, the Czech Republic, Georgia, Spain, Bulgaria, Armenia, Turkey, Israel and Cyprus the company will fly to Portugal, Poland, Germany, Denmark, Jordan, Sweden, Serbia, the Netherlands and Slovakia.
SkyUp plans to fly from Zaporizhia to Georgia, Greece, the Czech Republic, Spain, Turkey and Cyprus, from Lviv to Georgia, Greece, the Czech Republic, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Bulgaria, France and Israel, from Kharkiv to Georgia, Greece, the Czech Republic, Italy, Spain, Bulgaria and Cyprus, from Odesa to Georgia, the Czech Republic, Spain, Turkey, Armenia and the Netherlands.
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) backs the idea of creating a free economic zone in the east of Ukraine, as new jobs will contribute to poverty reduction, rapid and sustainable economic development, greater resilience and prosperity, Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Ukraine Dafina Gercheva said.
“We welcome the government’s reintegration initiatives: revitalizing local economies has proven to be very important in restoring the economy and social fabric in conflict-affected countries around the world. The conflict has severely affected Donetsk and Luhansk regions, resulting in bleak economic prospects, job losses, migration, poverty and social exclusion. UNDP stands ready to continue boosting local economy, strengthening social cohesion, and supporting peace building efforts,” Gercheva said in an interview with the Interfax-Ukraine information agency.
She noted that free economic zones have been successfully used as an instrument to galvanize and intensify economies, and the rationale behind this approach is to attract investors and generate employment. “The new jobs will contribute towards poverty reduction, rapid and sustainable economic development, enhanced resilience and increased prosperity. Eventually, such a zone may trigger a structural transformation, which is so much needed to move up the value chain. There are many areas where investment is lacking,” Gercheva said.
Therefore, this initiative would be able to solve this problem and offer new opportunities to local entrepreneurs, local communities, as well as social service providers, who today labour against outdated infrastructure and a lack of financial resources to reach everyone in these regions and meet their needs.
The resident representative stressed that this initiative would be able to solve this problem and offer new opportunities to local entrepreneurs, local communities, as well as social service providers, who today labour against outdated infrastructure and a lack of financial resources to reach everyone in these regions and meet their needs.
At the same time Gercheva noted that the initiative’s implementation is “quite realistic,” but there’s also a need to put in place the preconditions for its implementation, in particular, there is a need for full transparency and accountability when it comes to attraction and allocation of foreign direct or domestic investments. “Public authorities should be able to work effectively on the ground, upholding the rule of law, protecting human rights, ensuring access to justice and information, and addressing the needs of local communities,” she explained.
Gercheva also pointed out the need to restore ties with the population of the territories not controlled by the government of Ukraine.
“I leave the politics of conflict resolution to others, but what I care about – and what UNDP strives for on a daily basis – is to respond to the impact of the conflict: to repair the social fabric, to build forward better and greener, to recover, restore, repair and reconcile. This applies to infrastructure, jobs and the economy, and to people-to-people relations. All of this requires connectivity and cooperation. So we believe that bridges should be built and connections between people should be restored,” she said.
Gercheva emphasized that a long-term solution to peace-building is impossible without ensuring that the government communicates with the people, people keep in touch with each other, and that the systems are interconnected. I mean water supply, environmental protection, healthcare, social protection and so on. I’m convinced that it really is very important to start building bridges and thinking about how we can unite people, so that we can reconcile them as soon as possible and resolve the conflict,” the UNDP resident representative in Ukraine said.
