BRIEF—Russian government eases labelling requirements for domestic drugmakers

The Russian government has responded to calls from drugmakers to take measures to ensure their smooth operations in the domestic market and to introduce changes in the existing drug tracking system in the country.

New labelling became mandatory for all drugs in Russia since July 1 of the current year.

However, on September 30, a failure occurred in the system, due to which data on the drugs already loaded into the system were lost.

The operator of the system at that period of time explained the problems with a "technical factor" and said that the system continues to work on a stable mode.

This, however, has not prevented major supply disruptions in the domestic pharmaceutical market.

For example, Gedeon Richter Rus, the Russian subsidiary of Hungary’s Gedeon Richter, announced that it would suspend the supply of drugs to Russia until the end of October.

In the meantime, the Russian government has responded to the existing problem and associated complaints of producers.

In accordance with the recent statements of the Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov, the operation of the system in the mode of mandatory reporting will be temporarily suspended.