The biopharmaceutical company Biopharma (Kyiv) is limited in possibilities of increasing production of the Bioven medication (immunoglobulin) due to the lack of plasma donation culture in Ukraine and the lack of plasma, Oksana Plotnikova, director of strategic development at Biopharma, has said.
“We would like to expect an increase in Bioven production, which is why we are creating plasma centers to increase donor activity among the population. We have many blood donors, but the country does not have a culture of plasma donation for fractionation,” she said at a press conference on the completion of clinical trials of the Bioven drug in the complex therapy of patients with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on Wednesday.
Plotnikova said that as the world completes clinical trials confirming the effectiveness of drugs based on blood plasma in treatment of COVID-19, the demand for such drugs, and, therefore, plasma will grow.
“We are on the verge of the fact that many countries – Canada, Europe – will restrict imports. There will be no imported drug in the country,” she said.
Plotnikova reported that “Ukrainian donors today do not donate the amount of plasma that could meet the needs of Ukraine.”
“Today, in order to provide Ukraine, we buy plasma from the United States, Slovakia. We cannot buy Indian or Vietnamese plasma, because we do not buy plasma that is not standardized under European standards,” she said.
Plotnikova said that Biopharma actively cooperates with communal blood centers, “so that communal stations develop, reconstruct and procure not only blood components for hospitals, but also plasma for fractionators to provide Ukraine with drugs.”
“The demand for intravenous infusion of immunoglobulin G, and subsequently convalescent plasma and hyperimmune immunoglobulin, is obvious. Today we see and understand that the real effectiveness of the drug makes it possible to save lives, which means that the need is growing,” she said.
Ratio of fertility and mortality by region as of Jan-Aug, 2020
SSC of Ukraine
TIU Canada, a leading solar energy producer in Ukraine, has sued the Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant (NFZ) for illegally disconnecting its 10.5 MW solar station from the electricity grid. Despite Ukrainian energy laws that prevent electricity producers from being disconnected from the energy grid without their permission, the NFZ illegally cut TIU Canada’s connection on March 1, 2020. TIU Canada is seeking an immediate reconnection to the electricity grid and plans to hold the NFZ and its shareholders fully accountable under the laws of both Ukraine and Canada. The main shareholders of the Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant are Igor Kolomoyskyi, Gennadiy Bogolyubov, and Viktor Pinchuk.
The Nikopol solar station owned by TIU Canada is on land leased long term from the city of Nikopol, however, entry to the facility is through a gate controlled by the NFZ. The solar plant connects to a substation on the grounds of the NFZ and later connects directly to the regional electricity transporter DTEK Dnipro Grids JSC. On December 23, 2019, TIU Canada received a letter from the General Director of the NFZ, that they would be disconnecting the TIU Canada connection to DTEK Dnipro Grids JSC via the substation on the grounds of the NFZ in order to make ‘repairs.’ The NFZ stated that they would begin the repairs after February 29, 2020, and TIU Canada immediately contacted the NFZ to seek solutions to avoid any disconnection. However, despite multiple discussions, the NFZ management and shareholders proceeded with disconnecting TIU Canada from the substation on the morning of March 1, 2020. This illegal disconnection has caused more than 1.5 million Euros of damage to TIU Canada already and increases daily.
The next hearing of the case will be December 16 and likely continue in the coming weeks. TIU Canada CEO Michael Yurkovich said, “this is a clear case of oligarchs pressuring a foreign investor and trying to steal assets. As a leader in corporate social responsibility in Ukraine, we had hoped this was a thing of the past in Ukraine, unfortunately, such practices continue. Nonetheless, we are mustering our resources and will fight this case in Ukraine, Canada, or any jurisdiction needed to win. Corruption must not be allowed to continue in Ukraine, and the rights of investors must be protected.” It should be noted that on July 3, while speaking to the Economic Club of Canada, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised the work of TIU Canada at the Toronto Ukraine Reforms Conference. He said, “We think about the future, that is why green energy will be one of the key sectors of our economy during the upcoming years. I know that we have here Canadian company TIU that already successfully works in this area. We are grateful to them for this – please, follow their example”. This case now becomes a test of President Zelensky’s commitment to protecting foreign investors in Ukraine from illegal disconnection and corrupt actions.
TIU Canada is owned by the Calgary based Refraction 1 Fund and has been working in Ukraine since 2016. The company commissioned a 10 ½ megawatt solar energy plant in Nikopol, Ukraine, in January 2018, and an 11-megawatt solar station in the Mykolayiv region in April 2019. An additional 33 megawatts of solar electricity production have been commissioned in the Odesa region, for a total of 54 megawatts nationwide. TIU Canada has invested more than $65 million in Ukrainian solar energy over the last four years and was the first investor in Ukraine under the Canadian Ukrainian Free Trade Agreement (CUFTA).
TIU Canada directly and through its subcontractors employs more than 30 people in Ukraine whose jobs are now threatened by this illegal disconnection.
The support package of EUR 190 million provided by the European Union to Ukraine covers support for the culture and creative sector of Ukraine as well, Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine Matti Maasikas has said.
At the Creative Ukraine forum in Kyiv on Thursday, Maasikas said the EU has shown solidarity with Ukraine in the face of the pandemic crisis by quickly mobilizing EUR 190 million support package covering the health crisis and social and economic relief, in particular for small and medium-sized enterprises, which also covers the creative sector, vulnerable groups and civil society.
The head of the EU Delegation also said that culture and creativity will remain an important part of the EU and Ukrainian cooperation, both the sector itself and views and values that the EU shares with the Ukrainian people.
The creative economy should become a priority for the strategic development of Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
“The creative economy should become a priority of Ukraine’s strategic development. For this we have talented people, a unique cultural resource, we have a heritage. Now the creative industries are reminiscent of a Phoenix that rises from the ashes: it rises renewed, young, strong and adapted to a new life and to a new reality,” he said in his welcoming speech at the Creative Ukraine IV annual International Forum, which is held on Thursday.
Zelensky said that the state, in turn, will do everything to make the new reality for the creative industry comfortable and the conditions as favorable as possible.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said his retest for coronavirus (COVID-19) has so far been positive, and he continues to remain in self-isolation.
“My retest, unfortunately, is still positive, but I continue to work every day. This is my job. The only difference is that I work not on Bankova Street, but on Academician Zabolotny Street [where the Feofaniya clinical hospital is located],” he said in his blog on Wednesday.
Zelensky said he feels better. “The smells are back today. Strength is returning. The temperature is dropping. The desire to return to live work is rising,” he said.
Zelensky expressed the hope that the next video will be recorded from outside the hospital.
