Price for pharmaceutical substances are growing in Russia
Source：Vedomosti
From：Taiwan Trade Center, Moscow
Update Time：2024/05/11
The average cost of pharmaceutical substances (the active ingredient from which medicines are made) in 2023 was $116 per 1 kg. This is stated in the report of the analytical company DSM Group, which was reviewed by Vedomosti. The indicator increased by 26% year-on-year: in 2022, the average price was at the level of $92 per 1 kg, as indicated in the review.
Substances of different price categories are on the market – both at $5 per 1 kg and at $500,000 per 1 kg, says Alexander Semenov, president of the Active Component company. The cost of a product depends on the cost of its production (prices for the necessary components, as well as reagents and reagents for their synthesis), he explains. The cost is also affected by the presence of competitors, logistical costs, etc., adds Svetlana Zakirova, Director of business development at the pharmaceutical manufacturer Geropharm.
IMPORT OF PHARMACEUTICAL SUBSTANCES TO RUSSIA IN 2022-2023
|
Year
|
2022
|
2023
|
|
In US$ billion
|
1,79
|
1,75
|
|
In thousand tons
|
17,2
|
12,8
|
Source: DSM Group
The average cost of substances increased in 2023, as pharmaceutical manufacturers began to pay more attention to new developments," says Sergey Shulyak, CEO of DSM Group. According to the expert, domestic companies have focused on creating and releasing modern, more effective drugs instead of outdated drugs, whose sales have been falling in recent years. They need modern substances.
Vedomosti has already noted a steady decline in demand for a number of traditional drugs. For example, on March 7, the newspaper wrote that in 2023, 31 million packages of glycine were bought in pharmacies in Russia (shown for memory problems, anxiety, etc.), which is 4.3% lower than in 2022, according to the DSM Group. And sales of corvalol have been declining since 2019: in 2023, its sales in pharmacies fell by 7% to 40 million packages, the analytical company noted. The more modern and complex the molecule of the substance, the more expensive it is, Zakirova says. In addition, the demand for such raw materials began to grow, followed by an increase in its cost, says Shulyak. This is also indicated by Semenov, who notes that most of the substances that have appeared on the market in the last year are intended for the production of generics, for which "patents are coming to an end in the near future." Zakirova agrees with him. They did not name specific names of drugs.
In addition, the increase in the cost of purchased substances could be associated with the fall in the ruble exchange rate and the need to purchase raw materials through intermediaries under sanctions restrictions, Zakirova adds. "Taking into account all these factors, the average cost of substances will continue to grow in 2024," predicts Shulyak.
Now the substances are mainly purchased in China and India, says Semenov. "This is not a Russian, but a global trend," he says. The share of Russian substances in the domestic market is no more than 8-10%, Semenov points out, while foreign substances, according to his assessment, occupy at least 90%. In total, 12,847 tons of substances were imported into our country in 2023, compared to 17,199 tons in 2022, according to the DSM Group. The analytical company did not specify how many of them fell on China and India.
"An increase in the price of a substance can lead to an increase in the price of the final product (i.e., for drugs – Vedomosti)," Zakirova believes. The cost of substances is a rather sensitive part of the price of medicines, explains the representative of Binnopharm Group. The specific contribution to the price, according to him, depends on the medicine.
The state regulates prices for the list of vital and essential medicines, recalls Nikolay Bespalov, Director of Development at RNC Pharma. That is, even if the substance for the release of funds from the list is expensive, the cost of it will in any case be coordinated by the authorities, he explains. Businesses can include such costs in the final cost of only those products whose prices are not fixed by the state, Zakirova confirms.
Source: https://www.vedomosti.ru/business/articles/2024/03/21/1026953-substantsii-dlya-proizvodstva-lekarstv-podorozhali?utm_campaign=newspaper_21_3_2024&utm_medium=email&utm_source=vedomosti