Russian drugmakers call for state to simplify launch of domestic generics

Leading Russian drugmakers have called on the state to simplify the launch of their generics to the domestic market by reducing the number of so-called evergreen patents of global majors, reports The Pharma Letter’s local correspondent.

According to the Association of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers of the Eurasian Economic Union, this is the practice when pharmaceutical companies (most often foreign ones) extend registration of their drugs by introducing minor changes in the composition or dosage of the drug. That significantly complicates the launch of more affordable domestic analogues in the Russian pharmaceutical market.

In fact, in 2021, the Russian Ministry of Economic Development already tightened the requirements for drug patents in the Russian drug market. Since then, manufacturers can only extend protection if significant changes are made to the formula. But this did not allow to completely solve the problem.