KYIV. Feb 23 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine has signed an amicable agreement with U.S. Gilead Sciences, Inc. biopharmaceutical company on the Sovaldi medicine used to treat chronic hepatitis C infection in adults, acting Ukrainian Health Minister Ulana Suprun said at a press conference on Wednesday.
“The amicable agreement signed on Wednesday morning with our colleagues from Gilead will give Ukrainians more access to medicines treating hepatitis C at affordable prices, including at drugstores,” she said.
The Sovaldi medicine procured through international organizations will be priced at $250, or UAH 6,750 at the current forex rate, per pack.
Head of the Patients of Ukraine charity foundation Dmytro Sherembei said in turn that the price of this medicine at drugstores is UAH 10,000 per pack, whereas the price of its generic, Grateziano, whose registration in Ukraine was cancelled under a Health Ministry resolution on February 22, 2017, is UAH 15,000.
In general, the whole course of hepatitis C treatment with the use of Sovaldi in Ukraine will cost about $750, while it is about $60,000 in Europe and $70,000 in the United States, he said.
Gilead Senior Vice President for Access Operations & Emerging Markets Clifford Samuel said that Ukraine had been included in Gilead’s program for affordable access to chronic hepatitis C treatments because the economic situation in the country is difficult, its GDP level is low, but the pace of the spread of hepatitis C is fast. Thus, the price of Sovaldi and Harvoni is significantly lower for Ukraine.
He also disclosed the company’s plans to register another medicine for the treatment of adult patients with chronic hepatitis C virus, Epclusa.
“Now we’re working to make Epclusa available in Ukraine in the near future,” he said.
Gilead and the Health Ministry plan to jointly work to create programs for preventive medicine to raise public awareness of hepatitis C and boost the number of hepatitis C diagnostic procedures for Ukrainians.
Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko, who was present at the press conference, in turn, commented on the legal side of the amicable agreement, saying that it helped Ukraine avoid a claim from Gilead worth $800 million.
“The Ukrainian government together with civil society, perhaps for the first time in 15 years have found a civilized way for reaching understanding with the largest foreign investor involved in innovative developments of drugs for the treatment of hepatitis C,” he said.
As reported, the Ukrainian Health Ministry in November 2015 registered the Grateziano generic drug with the active substance Sofosbuvirum after Gilead in October 2015 registered the Sovaldi original innovative drug in Ukraine. Therefore the registration of the generic medicine violated the producer’s five-year exclusivity rights.
Kyiv’s district administrative court late in October 2016 refused to cancel the registration of the generic product.
At the end of January 2017, Ukraine’s government decided to sign a settlement agreement with the pharmaceutical producer, under which Ukraine undertook to take measures to eliminate the violations of the legitimate exclusive marketing rights. Gilead, in turn, stated that it would give up the compensation claims against Ukraine and will give a discount on its drug.
Ukraine’s Health Ministry on February 22, 2017 issued an order to cancel the registration of Grateziano and exclude it from the State Register of Medicinal Products of Ukraine.
KYIV. Feb 23 (Interfax-Ukraine) – China’s Huawei Technologies Co, ranking third in the world in terms of sales of smartphones, intends by the end of 2017 to open a research center in Kyiv, according to a press release from the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade.
“Huawei has significant experience in implementing digital technology and we want to cooperate with Ukraine, because it has a great potential. This can be cloud solutions for medicine, e-governance, urban security, housing and utilities services (Smart House projects) and other sectors,” Huawei President for Central Asia and the Caucasus Liu Hongyun said at a meeting with First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economic Development and Trade Stepan Kubiv.
According to him, Ukraine has a great potential in the development of digital projects and technologies. The foreign expert said the country can realize a digital leap in the use of digital opportunities, but for this it needs to improve the efficiency of using radio frequencies, implement 4G communications, simplify licensing procedures for the use of micro base stations widely used in the EU.
Huawei is a global leader in the field of information and communications technologies. The company’s products are sold in more than 170 countries. The company has 16 research centers around the world.
KYIV. Feb 23 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The share of Carlsberg Ukraine, one of the largest producers of beer and soft drinks in Ukraine, of the Ukrainian beer market in 2016 amounted to 29.9% in real terms, which is 0.3 percentage points higher than in 2015.
According to company a press release, with reference to data from Nielsen research company, its share in the kvass market in natural terms is 44.7%.
Last year Carlsberg Ukraine managed to significantly increase its sales in major network supermarkets.
The company estimates that in 2016 the beer market in Ukraine decreased by 7% compared to the previous year. There are several reasons for the fall of the market: the unfavorable economic situation in the country, the national currency devaluation, the reduced purchasing power of the population, as well as the consequences of fundamental changes in the industry regulation and a sharp increase in excise tax in 2016.
“Our company manages to increase its market share and show economically efficient activities, as well as appear in the ranking of the largest taxpayers in the country. I want to underline that the decision made in late 2016 to increase excise tax by the rate of inflation (12%) for the first time in many years demonstrated the fruits of the dialogue between businesses and the government,” Carlsberg Ukraine CEO Yevhen Shevchenko said.
Carlsberg Ukraine is part of Carlsberg Group, one of the leading brewing groups in the world, whose products are sold in more than 150 countries.
KYIV. Feb 23 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers on Wednesday approved bills drawn up by the Finance Ministry required for the implementation of the intergovernmental agreement with Hungary on financial cooperation, development of border checkpoints, infrastructure and maintenance of bridges on the joint state border.
According to a posting on the website of the Finance Ministry, the government approved the bill on ratification of the framework agreement between the Ukrainian and Hungarian governments on the provision of a loan as tied aid and the bill amending the bill on Ukraine’s national budget for 2017.
The documents allow receiving the soft-term financing of EUR 50 million to implement investment projects linked to the improvement of roads going to the Ukrainian-Hungarian border.
According to the proposed amendments to the national budget, Ukravtodor would prepare and implement of the relevant agreements, while the loan will be serviced using funds from the Ukrainian budget.
The funds are provided for 18 years and a half. The credit rate is 0%. A grace period of one year and a half is foreseen.
KYIV. Feb 23 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian metallurgical enterprises in January 2017 increased steel production by 8.5% compared with January 2016, to 2.103 million tonnes, remaining on the 10th place in the ranking among 66 countries, the world’s major manufacturers of these products, compiled by the World Steel Association (Worldsteel).
Growth in steel production in December was fixed in all countries from the top ten states.
The top ten steel makers in January looks as follows: China (67.2 million tonnes, a 7.4% rise), Japan (9.002 million tonnes, a 2.7% rise), India (8.4 million tonnes, 12% up), the United States (6.874 million tonnes, a rise of 6.5%), Russia (6.183 million tonnes, an 11.6% rise), South Korea (5.86 million tonnes, a 3.2% rise), Germany (3.649 million tonnes, 1.2% up), Turkey (2.93 million tonnes, 12.8% up), Brazil (2.856 million tonnes, 14.4% up), and Ukraine (2.103 million tonnes, 8.5% up).
In general, 66 countries in January 2017 produced 136.514 million tonnes of steel, which is 7% more than in January 2016.
As reported, in 2016 the top ten steel makers included China (808.37 million tonnes, an increase of 1.2%), Japan (104.772 million tonnes, a drop of 0.3%), India (95.618 million tonnes, an increase of 7.4%), the United States (78.619 million tonnes, a drop of 0.3%), Russia (70.8 million tonnes, a drop of 0.1%), South Korea (68.567 million tonnes, a drop of 1.6%), Germany (42.082 million tonnes, a drop of 1.4%), Turkey (33.163 million tonnes, an increase of 5.2%), Brazil (30.212 million tonnes, a drop of 9.2%), and Ukraine (24.221 million tonnes, an increase of 5.5%).
In general, the 66 countries produced 1.604 billion tonnes of steel in 2016, which was 0.7% up year-over-year.
