Russian government to fund drugs against rare and orphan diseases

The Russian government is considering 100% funding of state purchases of drugs against rare and orphan diseases, reports The Pharma Letter’s local correspondent.

Such drug will be paid for from the funds of the federal budget – in a move to ensure their regular supplies for the needs of Russian patients, according to recent statements by Valentina Matvienko, head of the Council of Federation, the upper house of the Russian Parliament.

Currently some of these drugs, most of which are from the upper-priced segment of the market, are purchased by the authorities of Russian regions, which has often led to big delays in the signing and implementation of these contracts -  usually  with global drugmakers. That resulted in serious losses of producers, many of which have repeatedly asked the Russian government to change a scheme for the conduction of tenders for the purchase of the most expensive drugs.