Executive Director of the Ukrainian Institute of Politics Mykola Spyrydonov has said that healthcare reform creates numerous problems with medical assistance for the population. He expressed such opinion during a discussion of a sociology survey conducted by Active Group, which was presented jointly with the Expert Club on June 22, 2020 at the press center of the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency.
“Even now, when ambulance arrives on call to take care of a child, the doctors in fact cannot do anything if the contract with a family doctor is not signed. If the contract is signed, the person is in fact a bondman,” the political expert said in a recent video on the Expert Club YouTube channel.
Therefore, according to Spyrydonov, the bureaucratic system does not allow people to receive medical services in the needed amount and in fact force them to go to private clinics.
“In fact, we are witnessing the process of destroying medicine, hindering the population from receiving medical services. Moreover, the number of hospitals and medical personnel is being reduced, thus creating additional hardships for receiving medical assistance,” the expert said.
According to the opinion poll, some 50% of Ukrainians said that the country’s healthcare system has become worse in general since the introduction of lockdown restrictions, while 22% respondents said that medical services have slightly improved, and only 3% said that they have significantly worsened.
The full video is available on the Expert Club YouTube channel:
EXPERT, EXPERT CLUB, EXPERT KITCHEN, HEALTHCARE REFORM, MEDICINE, SPYRYDONOV
PJSC Farmak pharmaceutical company (Kyiv) will use the German scientists’ protocol of clinical trials of the antiviral medicine efficiency, produced by Farmak for coronavirus (COVID-19) treatment, the company’s press service said with reference to Chairperson of the Supervisory Board of Farmak Filya Zhebrovska.
“This medicine was tested apart from human trials and showed good results. We need to come to clinical trials and conduct them, so that in the autumn we know that this medicine is effective and it can fight COVID-19. German scientists helped us indeed. They have prepared the clinical trial protocol correctly, so that we can investigate if this medicine is working according to all necessary criteria. This is a big, hard and expensive work,” she said.
Zhebrovska said that the antiviral medicine, which efficiency against COVID-19 Farmak plans to test, is also being studied by foreign research centers.
“There are good studies on our antiviral medicine at Oxford and Frankfurt universities,” she said.
Zhebrovska said that significant financial funds are needed for the development of COVID-19 vaccines, which Ukraine and the Ukrainian pharmaceutical companies do not currently have.
“The European Investment Bank organized a consortium together with the WHO and allocated EUR 7.6 billion for the development of vaccines for COVID-19. Neither Farmak, nor Ukraine, unfortunately, have such financial capacities. Perhaps we can join to these works at some stage,” she said.
Farmak is the leader in the pharmaceutical market of Ukraine in terms of sales. It exports products to 20 countries.
The affordable price becomes the important criterion for choosing effective medicines, Indian Ambassador to Ukraine Partha Satpathy has said.
“Today, the low price offered for an effective and high-quality drug is becoming a very important criterion for choosing medicines. Leading Indian pharmaceutical companies introduce medicines manufactured at modern production sites, taking into account the laws of countries with Stringent Regulatory Authorities, the requirements of EU regulatory agencies and the FDA, to the Ukrainian market,” he said during the third annual business seminar entitled “India – a Global Force in Pharmaceuticals, a Reliable Partner for Ukraine” organized by the Indian Pharmaceutical Manufacturers’ Association (IPMA) in cooperation with the Embassy of India in Ukraine last week in Kyiv.
The ambassador said that the government of India has determined the production of effective and affordable medicines, which the country can provide not only with the needs of the domestic market, but also with export, as one of the directions of state policy.
“The Indian pharmaceutical industry is so successful that it is capable to satisfy the needs of not only the domestic market of India, but the whole world. These needs are met on the basis of two principles: the availability of medicines and their reasonable price. Indeed, the health of many people depends on the availability of efficiency and the price of medicines,” he said.
Satpathy recalled that “the Indian government has taken certain steps: it has identified priority medicines, encouraged the manufacturing companies of these medicines and determined the basis for the implementation of the state regulatory policy to ensure the quality and effectiveness of medicines.”
The ambassador also said that Indian medicines can play a significant role in the implementation of the government’s Affordable Medicines program in Ukraine.
“It is high-quality medicines at a reasonable price that play an important role in this program. Therefore, the Indian side can be useful in this direction,” he said.
In addition, Satpathy noted the potential of Indian pharmaceutical companies in the segment of vaccines, oncology and drugs for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases for the entire world, as well as in the production of innovative medicines.
According to Proxima Research, in January-October 2019, 41.3 million packages of Indian medicines were sold on the retail market of Ukraine for a total of UAH 4.369 billion, which is 6.3% in cash and 4.6% in kind of the entire retail pharmaceutical market of Ukraine.
In turn, IPMA President Dr. Menon Ramanan Unni Parambath emphasized the willingness of leading Indian manufacturers to provide Ukrainian patients with a wide range of effective and high-quality medications at affordable prices.
For his part, Deputy Minister of Health of Ukraine Dmytro Koval said that the quality of registered Indian drugs is in line with international standards, and leading health experts acknowledge this.
According to the data announced during the seminar, the top 10 in terms of sales in the Ukrainian retail market among Indian companies in January-October 2019included, in particular, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd. (UAH 632.078 million or 5.392 million packages), Organosyn Life Sciences (UAH 460.279 million), Abryl Formulations (UAH 268.204 million), Sun Pharma (UAH 216.326 million), Euro Lifecare (UAH 188.365 million) and Macleods Pharmaceuticals (UAH 157.947 million). They are members of IPMA.
The Cabinet of Ministers on Wednesday amended resolution No. 374 dated May 26, 2005 on the approval of the rules of the public registration of medicines.
According to the document posted on the government’s website, the government improved the rules of the public registration or re-registration of medicines, in particular, the rules of providing access to the results of their clinical trials and obliged the Health Ministry to publish all the results of the nonclinical and clinical trials for medicines.
In addition, the government extended the registration certificates of medicines to be procured by international organizations using national budget funds, and canceled the mandatory provision of a GMP document for re-registration.
These changes will ensure free access to information on the medicine and eliminate the risks associated with disruptions in medicine supplies due to the delay of the public registration caused by the updating of the GMP certificates.
The Supreme Court has sent a case opened vis-à-vis the well-known medicine brand Corvalol Corvalolum to the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court. This decision was taken by the court on Tuesday, Head of the Legal Department of PJSC Farmak, lawyer Dmytro Taranchuk has told Interfax-Ukraine.
Having taken this decision, the Supreme Court granted the request of a third party – PJSC Farmak – on sending the case to the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court.
“This is a lawful decision and was taken in line with all procedural requirements; it will provide an impartial and objective consideration of the case,” the lawyer said.
As reported, the appeal chamber of Ukraine’s Economic Development and Trade Ministry on June 20, 2017, declared the Corvalol Corvalolum trademark used by PJSC Farmak as a well-known one.
Kyiv-based Darnitsa pharmaceutical firm in turn seeks the legal right to produce its own medicine, Corvalol. The firm appealed to the business court of Kyiv seeking to declare the decision of the ministry unlawful. The court of lower instance dismissed Darnitsa’s lawsuit, while Kyiv’s business court of appeals upheld the firm’s counterclaim.
Farmak declares that the name “Corvalol,” which has been produced since 1960, belongs to the company, as the medication was created in 1960 by Lomonosov Kyiv Chemical-Pharmaceutical Plant, and Farmak is the legal successor of the plant.
Since 1991, PJSC Farmak has been the only manufacturer of this medication in the post-Soviet space. The trademark Corvalol is protected in 15 countries of Europe and Central Asia: Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Belarus, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkmenistan, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan.
Darnitsa pharmaceutical firm is one of the ten largest pharmaceutical producers in Ukraine and belongs to the top ten hospital suppliers. The ultimate beneficiary is Hlib Zahoriy.
PJSC Farmak is among Ukraine’s top three pharmaceutical producers and is a member of the Association Manufacturers of Medications of Ukraine (AMMU). PJSC Farmak’s beneficiary is Chairperson of PJSC Farmak’s supervisory board Filia Zhebrovska.
BRAND, CORVALOL, GRAND CHAMBER, MEDICINE, UKRAINIAN SUPREME COURT
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) will transfer its long-term contracts for medicine procurement to the national procurement agency after its creation. UNDP Coordinator Zafar Yuldashev told Interfax-Ukraine that at present, the international organization has around 20 agreements signed with medicine manufacturers.
“At the stage of the transfer of medicine procurement from international organizations to the respective national agency, we also plan to transfer long-term contracts, but the necessary condition for this transfer is the legislative possibility of signing and conducting procurement under these contracts by the newly established procurement agency,” he said.
The expert said that long-term contracts make it possible to simplify the procurement procedure and allow the manufacturer to plan production of the required quantities of medicines by the approved deadline.
“As a result, the period between the announcement of procurement and the direct delivery of medicines to patients is reduced to a minimum, and these contracts allow providing reasonable prices and saving budget funds, as the manufacturer can more efficiently plan the purchase of raw materials and loading of production facilities,” he said.
Commenting on the opportunities for lower prices for budget procurement of medicines, Yuldashev said that “competition is the key to price reduction and a global trend, including in developed countries, as well as the increase in the share of generic drugs in procurement, which makes it possible to use the allocated funds more efficiently on procurement of medical products.”
He recalled that “UNDP has strict quality criteria and procures only those drugs, the quality of which is undoubted and that meets international criteria.”
“These drugs can be both originate and generic. Thanks to the lower price, generic drugs often allow more treatment to be available for more patients,” he said.
As reported, the UNDP signed long-term contracts with four international manufacturers – Teva Pharmaceuticals (Israel), Pfizer (Netherlands), Novo Nordisk (Denmark) and Sanofi Genzyme (France) – for the supply of 11 drugs, including medicines for rare diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Gaucher’s disease, mucopolysaccharides, cystic fibrosis, other orphan diseases, hemophilia, as well as medicines to stop bleeding.
