Industry news

• Russia sets out limits to purchasing imported meds

  04 January 2013 Tracy Staton, PharmaTimes Online

  Russia's government is set to limit state purchasing of pharmaceuticals from overseas, following the country's accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), according to local reports.

• Venture Capital, Russian Style

  20 December 2012 Katya Soldak, Forbes

  Russia’s scientific community may have experienced a “brain drain” over the past twenty years but the fundamentals of the famous soviet science are still in place, and Putin’s government is revitalizing science-based industry. Betting on nanotechnology, companies can potentially generate substantial returns. Enter Rusnano, a venture capital fund with plans to become a player in the global capital market.

• Tough Prescription: Drug Industry Faces Modernization

  18 December 2012 Irina Filatova, The Moscow Times

  Only a fraction of medicines bought in Russia are made here, and Russian drug companies are few. Dragging the pharmaceutical industry into the 21st century will require investment from foreign companies - and from the government, experts say.

• Abundant Opportunities within the Russian OTC Market, Invest with Caution when Making the Switch, Suggests Kline

  05 December 2012 PRNewswire

  Russia's rapidly growing over-the-counter market, posting a 12% increase to reach RUB 480 billion (USD 16.4 billion) at the manufacturers' level in 2011, holds much potential for pharmaceutical companies. Although a slight decrease in growth was observed against the previous year, according to new analysis Emerging Markets Rx-to-OTC Switch: Forecasts and Opportunities by global consulting and research firm Kline & Company, the Russian market remains highly robust compared to the U.S. market's 2.4% growth and comparable with the neighboring emerging market of China posting 15.0%.

• Russian pharmaceutical market developing

  30 November 2012 Jim Butschli, Healthcare Packaging

  Investments from its government and the international community continue; meanwhile, unhealthy lifestyles contribute to greater need for medications.

• Russia has the right prescription for pharma companies

  27 November 2012 Ruud Dobber, Financial Times / Beyondbrics

  The country still has enormous potential and is one of the few growing markets in what is a predominantly barren global economy. There is good cause for foreign businesses in Russia to be optimistic, not least in pharmaceuticals.

• Sberbank Eyes $800M Medical Investment

  15 November 2012 Irina Filatova, The Moscow Times

  Sberbank might invest up to $800 million to build a medical center in Moscow as part of a $1.5 billion hub presented Wednesday to upgrade the country's health care sector.

• Biotechnopark establishes its research center in Koltsovo

  14 November 2012 Venture Business News

  Biotechnopark, which is currently under construction in Koltsovo near Novosibirsk, will establish a research center for collective use of upscale laboratory equipment for bacterial and viral researches. The question of further development of the Biotechnopark infrastructure was considered at a meeting of the regional government.

• Online Medical Startup Attracts $2M in Investment

  02 November 2012 Alexander Winning, The Moscow Times

  A Russian venture-capital fund and an American investor have agreed to invest $2 million in VitaPortal, an online medical startup aiming to improve Russians' access to information on doctors, medicine and healthy living.

• India, Russia to ease access to pharmaceutical markets

  01 November 2012 Sergey Ivanov, Combined Report, Russia and India Reports

  New regulation in both countries will cut down registration procedures that can take up to 3 years, opening up new avenues.