International quality standards for Belarusian pharmaceutical companies

MINSK, 11 October (BelTA) – Belarusian manufacturers of medications will switch to international quality standards, Mr Gennady Godovalnikov, Deputy Healthcare Minister of Belarus, Director of the Pharmaceutical Industry Department, told media on 11 October.

“This year we have tried to rethink the development of the pharmaceutical industry in Belarus, have tried to lay down some new guidelines for the industry’s development. The first one is the orientation for the modernization of pharmaceutical enterprises and the transition to international quality standards – GMP standards,” said Gennady Godovalnikov.

The decision has been necessitated by the merger of the economic space of Belarus, Russia, and Kazakhstan. The official said that about $50 million had been allocated to buy patents to make new medications, to register clinical trials, and promote products.

Gennady Godovalnikov said that the Belarusian company OOO Pharmtechnology has already acquired a Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certificate in Ukraine, which has recently joined the Pharmaceutical Inspection Convention and Pharmaceutical Inspection Cooperation Scheme (PIC/S). The certificate is internationally recognized. Its acquisition indicates that private manufacturers keep up with state ones, remarked the Deputy Healthcare Minister.

He also said that the Pharmaceutical Industry Department is hard at work to set up joint ventures. RUP Belmedpreparaty and OAO Borisov Medications Factory (Borimed) are in negotiations with foreign partners, in particular, a Turkish company, which is ready to invest money, while the Belarusian side is ready to provide intellectual resources and manpower.

Negotiations with Russian companies are also underway. In particular, the Russian company Biosintez is ready to set up an enterprise to make medications in association with the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. “Instead of simply making medications together we would like to create a synergy of two scientific potentials to make new biotechnological medications,” stressed Gennady Godovalnikov. He remarked that there are no joint ventures in the Belarusian pharmaceutical industry for now.

The creation of modern biotechnological medications is another priority that the development of the Belarusian pharmaceutical industry should focus on. Changing the marketing policy of Belarusian pharmaceutical companies is yet another priority. “It means new options to sell products and selling more products. We have to raise the share of Belarus-made medications up to 50% of the home market in cost terms. At present the figure stands close to 30%”.

The Deputy Healthcare Minister also said that the Pharmaceutical Industry Department was looking into the idea of creating a pharmaceutical holding company and pharmaceutical clusters. “These are plans for the next year,” he remarked.

Nowadays 26 economic operators manufacture drugs in Belarus, offering about 1,200 medication titles.

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