The key issue on the agenda was expanding the use of domestic equipment and medicines by the regional Ministry of Health.
Over the period of 2014-2017, the region purchased 1270 units of medical equipment, including 809 units of Russian products, which is more than 60%. At the same time, 128 of the purchased equipment units were manufactured in the Sverdlovsk region by: “Ural Instrument Plant”, the Medelectronic company and the Dizet plant, a member of the NP Ural Biomedical Cluster.
The Ural Biomedical Cluster was represented at the meeting by its Executive Director, Vladimir Vlasov.
The level of use of Russian medicines is a target indicator of the state Sverdlovsk Region Healthcare Development 2024 program. Therefore, the meeting with manufacturers and discussing the most pressing issues of participation in auctions were useful for everyone. Many of the directors pointed out that there have been no meetings like this for a long time.
"I'd like to see that local drug manufacturers are more actively involved in government programs and regional state procurements. However, as long as we fail to hear each other, nothing is going to change,” said the minister.
Vladimir Mikhailov, head of the Drug Supply and Pharmaceutical Activities Department of the Ministry of Health of the Sverdlovsk Region, pointed out in his speech that one of the most successful examples of participation in state programs is interaction with the Medsintez plant.
Sales of infusion solutions in Yekaterinburg and the Sverdlovsk Region increased by 9% in 2017. Supplies of the solutions to hospitals were carried out in accordance with procurement schedules via auctions held both by the regional Ministry of Health and the medical institutions themselves,” stated Alexander Petrov, Chairman of the Medsintez Board of Directors.
Now, the Novouralsk plant started the production of new drugs: Volekam, Ciprofloxacin, Mannitol, Novocain and others. Still, no auctions have been held yet: there are applications for less than 1 million roubles. Alexander Petrov asked the regional Ministry of Health to consider regional support measures and include new medicines in auctions as separate lots.
The chief out-of-staff pediatric endocrinologist of the Ministry of Health of the Sverdlovsk Region asked when Medsintez would launch the production of analogues of genetically engineered human insulin, Aspart and Glargine, because similar sugar-lowering preparations from China have already appeared in hospitals.
"By 2019, we plan to bring to the market some products based on our proprietary insulin, Aspart. By 2021 - the Glargin insulin. We need some time to complete the clinical trials,' replied A. Petrov.
During the meeting, the Minister suggested that manufacturers create an industry association, which would, not limited to, collect all the information on medical goods and medicines produced in the Sverdlovsk Region on one website. In addition, Andrei promised to arrange visiting the enterprises by specialists of the Ministry of Health and medical institutions in order to get acquainted with their products on-site.