FAS discussed proposals on developing competition on the markets of medicines, medical products and medical services

On 20th August 2014, FAS organized a joint session of the Expert Council on developing competition in social sphere and health care and the Expert Council on developing competition in the field of medical products circulation.

The first item on the agenda was proposals for developing competition on the market of medicines, medical products and medical services, drafted under the frame of executing Clause 5 of No. DM-P36-4825 List of instructions of the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, D. Medevedev, of 01.07.2014, upon the results of a meeting with the Expert Council at the Government of the Russian Federation on developing business-climate and competition in the Russian Federation on 23rd June 2014.

The second issue was the problems of distance selling of medicines and medical products.

Over 100 attendees included officers of FAS Russia, Roszdravnadzor [the Federal Service for Supervision of Public Health and Social Development], Rospotrebnadzor [the Federal Service for Surveillance of Consumer Rights and Human Well-Being], Roskomnadzor [the Federal Service for Information Technologies and Communications], the Ministry of Communications of the Russian Federation, Moscow Regional Committee on Competition Policy, representatives of Russian and foreign producers of drugs and medical products, medical and research organizations, non-governmental associations and legal firms.

After a welcoming address, the Head of FAS Department for Control over Social Sphere and Trade, Timophei Nizhegorodtsev, said that prior to the session members of the two FAS Expert Councils had collected and summarized substantiated proposals on developing competition in health care, particularly, on the market of medicines, medical products, medical services, which he suggested to further discuss at the joint session.

On the first issue a report was made by a lawyer of the Association of Russian Pharmaceutical Manufacturers (ARPM), Anna Todorova. She stated that the Association in general supports the draft proposals on developing competition on drug markets; but there are some adds-on.

Executive Director of “Aptechnaya Gildia” Non-Profit Partnership, Elena Nevolina, made a report on the “Drug Availability Problems – Impossible to Buy Drugs out of Pharmacies and First-Aid Stations”. She pointed out that industry representatives believe that permitting sales of drugs in stores under special conditions (a fast track option of obtaining a license or without licensing at all) “will bring a pharmaceutical network to a bifurcation point, when the way out would be not a higher level of regularity but some kind of chaos in terms of physical and economic availability of drugs to the sick”.

General Director, Chief Medical Officer of “CardioClinika” CJSC, Nadezhda Alexeeva, made a presentation “Health beyond Competition!?”, where she commented on proposals about developing competition in health care (on the market of medical services) in 2015-2016.

The Head of the Marketing Department of “REAMED” Ltd., Mikhail Kuznetsov, and Director on Public Relations and Relations with the Authorities, SCA, Evgeny Makhortov, discussed the problems on developing competition on the markets of medical products.

Summing up the discussion, Timophei Nizhegorodtsev asked participants to promptly forward to FAS their amendments to the proposals on developing competition on the markets of medicines, medical products and medical services that would be taken into account refining those proposals.

On the issue of distance selling of drugs and medical products, Executive Director of “SoyuzPharma” Pharmaceutical Institutions Association, Dmitry Tselousov, made a report where he drew attention to legal regulation of distance selling of drugs and proposed that the institution of drug delivery should be comprehensively formalized in subordinate legislation of the Ministry of Health Care of the Russian Federation.

Sergey Shestakov, a partner, “Allinone Network FZ-LLC”, reported that the company is a member of a sectoral Working Group of pharmaceutical market participants to form proposals on changing the law in distance retail selling of drugs and other goods of pharmaceutical mix, including medical products. The Working Group submitted its proposals to the Ministry of Health Care of the Russian Federation for consideration, in particular, a draft order of the Ministry of Health Care to be used by pharmacies in the work of their electronic systems.

After hot debates, participants reached an agreement to include items aimed at resolving the issues of distance selling of drugs and medical products in the proposals on developing competition in health care.