Ukraine does not yet have resources for creating its own innovative drugs, the development is demonstrated by generic production, Dmytro Shymkiv, the chairman of the board of directors of Darnitsa Group, has said.
“For the production of innovative drugs, we need appropriate research and development and patent protection of intellectual property not only in Ukraine, but also globally. And we also need the ability to raise from $ 1 billion and have at least 8-10 years of time. The availability of such resources in Ukraine is not yet discussed,” he said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
At the same time, he noted that “the generic market is also showing development, new combination drugs are being created and the existing lines are actively expanding.”
In addition, Shymkiv believes that “the Ukrainian pharmaceutical sector will not be able to cover all the needs for medicines,” therefore, there can be no talk of 100% import substitution.
“Refusal to import can be considered in those segments where Ukrainian companies can and are already producing drugs,” he said.
Commenting on the possibility of reviving vaccine production in Ukraine, Shymkiv stressed that “vaccine production is, first of all, issues of public-private partnership.”
“We studied the possibility of launching vaccine production. Everything causes the question: who is the customer. If the state guarantees the purchase, then we will have a Ukrainian plant using the best technologies. And Darnitsa is ready to invest in this. Invest where there are no guarantees of public procurement is too risky,” he said.
Ukraine can join India, Israel, and Thailand and become another major platform for the rapidly growing industry of clinical trials of new drugs, James Peyer, managing partner of the U.S. biotechnology company Apollo Ventures, has said. “Clinical trials can be carried out (in Ukraine) with the same level of professionalism, with the same level of effectiveness as in the United States and Europe but without their high costs,” he said at the Ukraine House Davos health panel.
As reported earlier, bill No. 4074 on ensuring public access to the results of preclinical study and clinical trials of medicines was passed into law by the Ukrainian parliament in September 2018.
At present, about 200 clinical drug trials are underway in Ukraine. At the same time, in the past two years, the trend toward a decrease in the number of clinical trials has subsided.
