Private joint-stock company Farmak (Kyiv), the pharmaceutical company, did not halt production and will gradually exit lockdown, the press service of the company has told Interfax-Ukraine.
“Farmak continues production as usual. All lines are working as planned. However, after lockdown was announced all over the country on March 12 and the Health Ministry recommended that enterprises transfer employees to remote work, if possible, Farmak transferred some employees to remote work,” the company said.
According to the company, in particular, within the framework of lockdown restrictions introduced in the country, the sanitary regime was tightened to provide additional protection for workers, members of their families and to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease COVID-10, and a reserve of disinfection and personal protective equipment was created.
The company also developed an algorithm of actions and escort routes for people with signs of ARVI, limited mass meetings, replacing them with remote meetings, suspended business trips of employees abroad, and limited business trips within Ukraine.
Workers who returned from abroad starting March 16, switched to telework for 14 days,” the company said.
During lockdown, to ensure uninterrupted operation, Farmak developed routes and a schedule for centralized transportation of employees from their places of residence at 5.45 a.m., and a carsharing group was created to deliver employees to the office.
The press service of Farmak noted an increased demand for medicines manufactured by the company.
“Production is responding to increased demand. Our mission is to make affordable and effective medicines available for treatment, so we quickly adapt to changing market needs. For example, Farmak produces medicines (Amizon, Nazoferon, Gropivirin, Pelorsin) that can be used to treat and prevent influenza and ARVI,” the company said.
Ukraine since the beginning of the 2019/2020 marketing year (MY, July-June) has reduced production of bread and bakery goods by 12.3%, and in March this year compared to March 2019 by 13.8%, the UkrAgroConsult analytical agency said on its website.
According to the agency, production of flour since the beginning of the current MY has decreased by 3.1%, and in March this year from March of the past year by 8.8%.
UkrAgroConsult noted that in March production of bran also decreased by 8.3%, and feed by 6.1%.
The cost of agricultural production in Ukraine in January-March 2020 decreased by 7.3% compared to the same period in 2019. According to the State Statistics Service, the cost of crop production in the first quarter decreased by 8.3%, livestock products by 6.6%, material and technical resources of industrial origin used in agriculture by 9.8%.
At the same time, according to the service, the cost of agricultural production in March increased by 0.6% compared to the previous month. Thus, the cost of crop production rose by 0.1%, livestock products by 0.2%, but at the same time, the cost of material and technical resources decreased by 1.3%.
As reported, the cost of agricultural production in Ukraine in 2019 decreased by 0.64% compared to 2018.
PJSC Energomashspetsstal (Kramatorsk, Donetsk region), owned by Russia’s Atomenergomash (Rosatom state corporation), outputted products for UAH 2.26 billion in 2019, which is 6% less than the same indicator in 2018, and sold almost 86% of output for UAH 1.94 billion.
The enterprise said in a statement on its website on Monday, April 27, that such figures were given in the report of General Director of Energomashspetsstal Vitaliy Hnezdytsky at the general meeting of shareholders on April 23.
“Despite the decline in demand in the foreign and internal markets, increased competition from Asian manufacturers, the presence of excess capacity in Eurozone enterprises, PJSC Energomashspetsstal manages to preserve the accumulated potential and maintain a stable economic condition. The enterprise managed to output products almost at the level of last year,” the press service said, citing the general director’s report.
He said that there were some 59,300 tonnes of liquid steel [5% less than in 2018], some 3,200 tonnes of cast products (6.7% more), some 37,900 tonnes of forgings (7% less) produced in 2019.
“There were 85.8% of manufactured products amounted to UAH 1.940 billion sold in 2019. The main consumers were Germany, Kazakhstan, China, Finland, the United States, France, Poland, Romania, Belgium and others. There was entry into the gross products market of the United States, Brazil and Mexico,” the general director said in the report.
According to the report, the enterprise regularly pays salaries, and the average salary amounted to almost UAH 18,800 UAH in February 2020, which is 24% more than in February 2019.
The shareholders determined the output and sale of products in the amount of UAH 3.71 billion in 2020.
According to the Energomashspetsstal report in the disclosure system of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission, the shareholders also elected a new composition of the supervisory board, which included eight former members and instead of retired Yuriy Yatseniuk, who was a member of the supervisory board from 2011, introduced Kateryna Taruta [daughter of the MP and former governor of Donetsk region Serhiy Taruta] as a representative of the Cyprus EMSS Holdings Limited.
Energomashspetsstal is the largest Ukrainian manufacturer of special cast and forged products of individual and small-scale production for metallurgy, shipbuilding, energy (wind, steam, hydro, nuclear), and general engineering.
Ukraine has launched the domestic production of PCR tests and the first batch of 200,000 tests has been sent to regions, Secretary of the Coordination Council for Fight against COVID-19, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Kyrylo Tymoshenko said.
“As we promised a few weeks ago, Ukraine has launched the production of PCR tests. Today we have received the first batch of 200,000 tests. They will be sent to regions, the laboratories specialized in PCR testing, during the weekend,” the president’s press service cited him.
According to Tymoshenko, another batch of 400,000 tests is expected to be ready next week. The production of domestic PCR tests will continue and they will be distributed among healthcare institutions.
Ukrainian pharmaceutical company Microkhim (Rubizhne, Luhansk region) is ready to start production of a generic antiviral drug to combat the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) by the end of the year, Microkhim Director General Ihor Pohromsky has said in an interview with the Uriadovy Kurier government’s newspaper. “Now the key point is that we are transporting the substance. In the near future we will expose it to comprehensive analytical control, develop a dosage form and establish and conduct bioequivalence clinical trials. There is a lot of work ahead. There is a lot of professional work that we can do, but it has terms and limitations. However, the situation is such that, despite quarantine, we are ready to work to provide the country with a domestic drug this year, and I am sure that we will be first among national manufacturers, who will develop it,” he said, adding that it comes to the production of generic Avigan.
According to Pohromsky, “the drug was developed in Japan against several influenza viruses in 2014, and in 2015 it passed the third phase of clinical trials in the United States. It happened so that it was tested during an epidemic in Wuhan, and later allowed for experimental use in Italy against COVID-19. By the way, it has already become known that more than 30 countries have asked Japan to provide them with this drug for combating COVID-19. Japan has provided it to Ukraine to continue clinical trials involving patients with COVID-19.”
The general director said that the price of the generic drug made in Ukraine will be much lower than the price of the original. In addition, in the context of global hype, it is difficult to talk about the wholesale supply of original drugs to Ukraine. Therefore, according to Pohromsky, it is necessary to start domestic production.
