Ukrainian drugmakers may lose domestic pharma market share

Ukrainian drugmakers may loss their share of the domestic pharmaceutical market over the next several years, due to a recent decision of the national government to sign a contract on public procurement of drugs in Ukraine with UNDP, UNICEF and the British Crown Agents, reports The Pharma Letter’s local correspondent.

According to Ukrainian producers, these international organizations have their own rules for conducting tenders for the purchase of drugs for state needs, which are based on World Health Organization rules. Due to this, the production of local drugmakers will have to comply with the European Union rules on quality, safety and efficacy of drugs, which will be associated with their need to shift to new standards in order to participate in public procurement tenders, which may take them two-three years to achieve.

Amid the fears of losing access to state tenders, Ukrainian drugmakers have already started to design a petition to the national government to suspend the introduction of the controversial new practice.