$244 million funding for high-priced drugs for children in Russia

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has signed a decree to allocate 17.9 billion roubles ($244 million) for the needs of the Circle of Kindness Foundation, a Russian public fund specializing on the procurement of high-priced drugs for children with severe and rare diseases.

Of this total,10.6 billion roubles for the first time will be spent on the purchase of drugs that are not registered in Russia. This is the third tranche allocated by the government to the Foundation in 2021.

As part of these plans are purchases of such unregistered drugs in the local market, such a Qarziba (dinutuximab beta) from EUSA Pharma for the treatment of neuroblastoma, Trikafta (elexacaftor, tezacaftor and ivacaftor) from Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: VRTX) and Novartis’ (NOVN: VX) Zolgensma (onasemnogene abeparvovec), for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).