Domestic Production Targets Look Increasingly Unlikely

BMI View: Russia's domestic drugmakers failed to boost exports in 2011, despite government-backed initiatives that are supposed to be driving the development of the local industry. Equally, pharmaceutical imports rose well above the rate of domestic consumption, suggesting national producers are not performing as well as they should, in stark contrast to the government's long-term aims of significantly reducing import reliance. While the government's pharmaceutical industry targets were not designed to be achieved until the end of the decade, the lack of progress last year is a strong signal that the industry will not meet these goals and supports BMI's long-held conviction that Russia's Pharma 2020 domestic production targets are overly ambitious and the country's pharmaceutical trade deficit will continue to grow. BMI has previously highlighted WTO accession as likely to improve and secure access to the Russian drug market for foreign multinationals, as it will limit, but not completely prohibit, the more feared protectionist methods the government could use to boost domestic production.

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