Russia may start compulsory licensing of foreign drugs

The Russian Parliament (State Duma) has started the design of a law that will allow the production of some types of drugs in the country without the permission of their patent holder, reports The Pharma Letter’s local correspondent.

According to Timofey Nizhegorodtsev, head of the department of social control and trade of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) of Russia, production of foreign drugs will be allowed if the patent owner refuses to supply them to Russia, due to sanctions or any other “unfounded” reasons.

Mr Nizhegorodtsev added that compulsory licensing of foreign drugs in Russia will be applied in accordance with international standards and will be a mechanism that will be applied in extraordinary circumstances. According to him, there are several agreements in the World Trade Organization (WTO) statute that regulate this issue.