Pharmaceutical supplies between Russia and Syria may begin as early as 2018

22 September 2017

The Second All-Russian GMP Conference became a platform for open talks between the government and business representatives of the Syrian Arab Republic and Russian pharmaceutical companies. The participants discussed the prospects of entering new markets, the potential and expectations of Russian and Syrian companies.

Dr. Habib Abbud, Deputy Minister of Health of the Syrian Arab Republic, said that events in the country had hit the economy: many industries in Aleppo and Damascus suburbs were closed, local currency devalued, which led to an over tenfold increase in drug prices.

“We are aimed at restoring the previous volume of supplies of medicines to the market that were stopped due to the introduction of sanctions in Western Europe. Three agreements on mutual recognition have already been signed with a number of friendly states: Iran, Cuba, Belarus. In two months we plan to sign a similar agreement with the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation,” said Dr. Habib Abbud.

Representatives of the Russian companies showed a keen interest in the possibility of cooperation and noted that this is an important step in opening new markets, exchanging experience and increasing production volumes of both countries for the supply of necessary finished medicines and active pharmaceutical substances.

Alexander Semyonov, President of “Acticomp” said: “According to the company's development strategy, we see great potential in the cooperation with Middle East companies. At the moment, we are actively negotiating with a large manufacturer of finished pharma products in Syria and a large distributor supplying products to a number of countries in the Middle East. By 2020, “Acticomp” plans to supply up to 45 tons of products to be exported.”

He also noted that the company is ready, if needed, to undergo public and private audits of the system of proper production quality at “Acticomp”. Many large European companies are already buying or adding Russian pharmaceutical substances to their registration files. Now “Acticomp” has the ability to consistently produce more than 50 active pharmaceutical substances, and plans for the next few years include expansion of the list of products to 100 items.