Newly-established state fund to ensure purchases of most expensive drugs in Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved the proposal of the Ministry of Health to establish a special state fund that will focus on the purchases of some of the most expensive drugs for the needs of Russian patents, primarily children for years to come, according to recent statements by the press-service of the Russian Presidential Administration.

According to some Russian media reports, it is planned that the newly-established fund will specialize on the purchases of drugs for the treatment of some orphan and rare diseases, prices of which usually exceed thousands of dollars.

One such drug is Spinraza (nusinersen), which is designed for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and produced by the US biotech Biogen (Nasdaq: BIIB). Due to the high cost of the drug, there is a serious threat that it fails to be purchased by the Russian government this year.