Enterprises of the "Belbiopharm" concern increased production output by 1.5 times in four years

April 8, Vitebsk / Sergey Kochetov - BELTA /. The production volume of pharmaceutical enterprises of the Belbiofarm concern has increased 1.5 times over the past four years and reached Br518.7 billion by the end of 2009. This was announced by Vladimir Gapanovich, First Deputy Chairman of the concern, at the VIII Congress of Pharmacists of Belarus, which is taking place today in Vitebsk, according to a BELTA correspondent. During this period, the volume of pharmaceutical products supplied to the domestic market increased from $64 million to $111 million, stably accounting for 60% of the manufactured products. The share of domestic drugs in the country's market is growing both in value and in kind, noted Vladimir Gapanovich. Thus, in 2009, the concern's enterprises sold medicines worth Br312 billion on the domestic market. The volume of the Belarusian pharmaceutical market by the end of 2009 increased by 3% in value and 1.5% in kind, reaching $615.4 million (according to monitoring of retail and hospital sales by the Pharmexpert center). The share of domestic manufacturers also grew, accounting for 20.8% in value and 55% in kind. "At the same time, the average price of a package of medicines from foreign manufacturers was $2.9, and from domestic manufacturers - $0.62, which is almost 5 times less," emphasized Vladimir Gapanovich. He recalled that the concern's enterprises produce 85% of domestic medicines. The increase in the supply of domestic medicines is primarily due to the expansion of the product range. A state system for developing technologies for the production and use of new medicines has been created in the country with the participation of organizations of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, the Ministries of Health and Education, as well as enterprises of the Belbiofarm concern. Thanks to joint efforts, in 2009 alone, enterprises mastered the production of 35 new drug names. In total, the range of pharmaceutical enterprises includes over 500 drug names, of which more than 200 are on the list of essential medicines. In 2010-2012, the concern's enterprises plan to develop and introduce more than 40 medicines, including drugs for the treatment of gastrointestinal tract and metabolic disorders, antithrombotic and antitumor agents. By 2015, the range of products manufactured should increase to 800 names, with the production of essential medicines reaching at least 60%. -0-