Russian drugmakers call for new criteria for strategically important drugs

The Russian pharma trade group Innovative Pharma (Inpharma) has sent an official letter to the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Russia with proposals for revising the criteria for including drugs in the list of strategically important drugs, The Pharma Letter’s local correspondent reports.

At the end of December 2024, the government submitted a bill to the State Duma to develop the concept of strategically important drugs, beginning work on developing criteria for its formation. At the same a number of domestic pharmaceutical manufacturers have put forward their own proposals for the development of such concept.

According to analysts at Forbes Russia magazine, if a drug is included in the list of strategically important and is produced by a Russian company, it will receive a significant advantage during government procurements. All applications with foreign analogues of such a drug will not even be considered. This approach is called the "second extra" rule. According to representatives of Inpharma, while this approach is beneficial for local companies, the same cannot be said for patients.