Total Volume of Drug Production in Russia since January Amounted to ˆ2bn

Today, the Russian pharmaceutical market is one of the most dynamic and fast-growing in the world. In this area, there is an active import substitution. A significant part of the drugs produced in Russia can be attributed to high-tech products. This success, of course, is associated with the implementation of the Pharma-2020 strategy.

According to RNC Pharma, the total volume of drug production in Russia since the beginning of the year amounted to 157.5 billion rubles. (in the prices of manufacturers shipment, including VAT). In total, from January to May 1.74 billion packs of drugs were shipped. The demand for drugs is constantly growing. So, according to the DSM group, for 5 months of 2019 compared to the same period of 2018, sales increased by 6.8% in packages and by 11.2% in rubles.

But this statistic has a downside. Due to the availability of medicines, people take medicines uncontrollably. Deputy head of the Russian Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor) Vyacheslav Smolensky at the conference “Global threats to biological safety. Problems and solutions” noted that in 30 years the number of deaths from antibiotic resistance could grow to 10 million a year.

Scientists are concerned about the content of antibacterial drugs in flora and fauna. According to research data, their content exceeds permissible norms by several times, and this may lead to the emergence of new unknown forms of diseases caused by bacteria and fungi. Perhaps one of the reasons is unorganized drug disposal. On an industrial scale, these actions are enshrined in Sanitary Rules and Regulations (SanPin) norms, and are regulated by legislative acts, in particular, the grounds and procedure for destruction are spelled out in Law ¹ 61-FL “On Circulation of Medicines” dated April 12, 2010. So the poor-quality, fake and counterfeit drugs are subject to withdrawal from circulation and destruction, but this applies to pharmacy chains and pharmaceutical manufacturers. There is nothing in the document about the population.

Most people simply throw overdue drugs into the bin. Nobody thinks how dangerous it is. This situation should change in the future. And in the concept of the strategy “Pharma 2030” this problem may be solved. Waste disposal is discussed at the highest level. This topic was given much attention during a live broadcast with President Vladimir Putin. Perhaps in Russia there will be a separate collection of medicines from the population by hazard class.

In Europe and USA, people bring medical waste and expired drugs to pharmacies, where there are special receivers. In addition, in developed countries, initiatives are carried out to take overdue and unnecessary drugs. The so-called “Days of excess medicine.” People bring pills, salves, ampoules, syrups and solutions, and volunteers distribute, pack, and send them for disposal in special organizations. There are already similar reception points in Belarus and Kazakhstan.

According to the general director of the Association of Russian Pharmaceutical Manufacturers, Viñtor Dmitriev:

“Medical supplies and medical devices belong to a high class of danger. Handling them requires compliance with certain rules. In our country there is no culture of separate collection of garbage, such as in Japan. Of course, it is necessary to introduce norms and rules. But first of all, it is necessary to eliminate the illiteracy of people in this matter. According to statistics, up to one million tons of medical and biological waste is generated in Russia annually, and this figure is steadily increasing. The philistine does not even think about this issue, which has serious consequences for the ecology and human health. Perhaps it is time to pay attention to the disposal of medicines at the philistine level.”