Business news from Ukraine

Patients are asking to include medicines for the treatment of glaucoma in the Affordable Medicines program, representative of the Ukrainian Society of the Blind Yaroslav Savchuk has stated.
“Now, to drip drops every day, a person needs to spend about UAH 1,000 per month. Can our usual patient, who has glaucoma, spend UAH 1,000 per month? People get blind because they do not understand the need to be treated or because there is no money for daily treatment. If the state helps such persons by lowering prices, including these drugs in the Affordable Medicines program, they could drip these drops daily and won’t become burden for the state,” he said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine.
“The Ukrainian society of the blind twice appealed to higher state agencies for help to include glaucoma medications in the list of available medicines, but so far the problem has not been resolved,” he stressed.
Marketing and Sales Director of PJSC Farmak Susanna Khalilova, in turn, noted that preparations for the treatment of glaucoma make up half of the company’s ophthalmic portfolio. At the same time, its generic drugs are more affordable than the original medicines.
“We see the experience of European countries, for example, Poland, where the reimbursement program fully covers glaucoma treatment. The state should respond to the patients’ request for including these drugs in the Affordable Medicines program,” she said.
At the same time, the ophthalmology expert of the Ministry of Health, Professor Oksana Vitovska, noted that ophthalmologists jointly with the medical department of the Ministry of Health prepared relevant information materials for including glaucoma in the list of nosologies under the Affordable Medicines program.
“This work is underway. Of course, no one dies from glaucoma, but patients assess the quality of their life after losing vision closer to death,” she said.
According to the expert, about 20,000 new cases of glaucoma are registered in Ukraine every year.
In general, about 200,000 people in Ukraine have glaucoma.

Kyivstar, Vodafone-Ukraine and Lifecell mobile operators, according to the right of first purchase option to launch 4G standard communications, have purchased the lots of 25 MHz, 20 MHz and 15 MHz respectively in the 1800 MHz band for UAH 1.325 billion, UAH 1.06 billion and UAH 795,000.
An Interfax-Ukraine correspondent said that Oleksandr Zhyvotovsky, the head of the National Commission for Communications Regulation (NCCR), announced the winners on the relevant lots at the 4G tender on March 6.
According to the terms of the tender, the subjects of conversion, to ensure the continuity of provision of telecommunications services to their subscribers, are entitled to receive part of the radio frequency bands at a fixed price.

Naftogaz Ukrainy will open an office in Germany, which will also represent the interests of the company in Austria and Switzerland.
According to a company report in the information disclosure system of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission, the decision to open a representative office in Munich has been agreed by the company supervisory board.
Earlier, the supervisory board of Naftogaz instructed the board to take all necessary measures to liquidate the Russian office of the company in Moscow by March 12, 2018.
Naftogaz Ukrainy unites the largest oil and gas producing enterprises of the country. The holding is a monopolist in transit and storage of natural gas in underground storage facilities, as well as oil transportation via pipelines throughout the country.

A Japanese and Austrian company are interested in capital investment in Kryvy Rih oxidized ore mill, the Economic Development and Trade Ministry of Ukraine said on its Twitter page posting photos of a meeting of Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Economic Development and Trade Stepan Kubiv with a delegation headed by Hiroshi Ishikawa responsible for the Iron Unit Division at Kobe Steel.
“The group of companies has designed a new technology for processing oxidized ores and it is interested in building a complex on the basis of Kryvy Rih oxidized ore mill,” the ministry said.
The press service of the ministry told Interfax-Ukraine that along with Kobe Steel, Austria’s Hares Engineering GmbH also showed its interest in the mill.
“These are Kobe Steel and Austria’s Hares Engineering GmbH. We have decided to shape an action plan. The ministry is interested in cooperation with them. The ministry is interested in leasing the property of Kryvy Rih oxidized ore mill. We will report later on concrete results of negotiations,” the press service of the ministry said.
According to a report of the ministry on Twitter, Kubiv pointed out the importance of attracting Ukrainian construction and engineering companies to construction of the complex on the basis of the Kryvy Rih mill.
Kobe Steel’s interest in the Kryvy Rih oxidized ore mill was reported back in the second half of last decade. In particular, in March 2009, during a visit of the then-Minister of Industrial Policy of Ukraine Volodymyr Novitsky to Japan, a memorandum of cooperation was signed between the Ministry of Industrial Policy, Kobe Steel and Hares Engineering to consider the introduction of ITMk3 technology (Ironmaking Technology Mark Three) at the mill. It was planned to create a working group to draft concrete proposals.
The construction of the mill started in 1985. The assessed total investment required to complete the construction and launch the Kryvy Rih oxidized ore mil, according to preliminary data, was about $800 million.