Russian government to change rules on public procurement of drugs

The Russian government is considering providing permission for the state purchases of essential drugs, in accordance with their brand names, but in line with protection of their chemical formula by patents and the existence of evidences that the drug cannot be replaced by its analogue.

Such proposals were recently prepared by the Russian Ministry of Health, Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS).

Currently, public procurement accounts for more than 30% of the Russian pharmaceutical market. In 2012 the value of the segment reached 236 billion roubles ($7.18 billion), with the value of the whole market about 773 billion roubles. At present, all the drugs are purchased in accordance with their international non-proprietary name and price for the same drugs may vary greatly.