MOSCOW CARGO PARTICIPATED IN THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE «QUALITY PHARMLOG-2022»
31/10/2022
On October 28, the VIII Annual International Conference «Quality Standards for Pharmaceutical Logistics» - Quality PharmLog-2022 was held at the business site of the Grand Hotel Marriott in Moscow. The business program of the conference brought together leading representatives of the pharmaceutical market in Russia and the EAEU countries, employees of state regulatory bodies and participants in the transport and logistics chain directly involved in the transportation of medical products.
The main topic of the discussion was changes in the work of pharmaceutical companies under sanctions restrictions, as well as measures to support domestic manufacturers of medicines and medical devices necessary to ensure the sustainable development of the Russian pharmaceutical industry, which largely depends on the supplies from abroad. At present, more than 80% of Russian drugs are manufactures from imported raw materials, in connection with which the conference participants paid special attention to problems in procurement and logistics.
The conference organizers invited Elena Konkina, Commercial Director of Moscow Cargo LLC, to talk about the changes in the field of air transport, which traditionally delivers expensive medical equipment, high-cost medicines and thermolabile drugs. The Moscow Cargo air cargo terminal operates Russia's largest temperature storage area at airports and closely cooperates with the leading importers and manufacturers of the pharmaceutical segment.
Despite the fact that a direct ban on the sales of medicines and medical equipment to Russia was not formally introduced, however, breaks in logistics chains caused by Western sanctions and difficulties in paying foreign suppliers created serious obstacles for imports from a number of countries and led to a significant increase in logistics costs for supplies from abroad in general. In the field of air transportation, additional restrictions are also associated with a reduction in carrying capacities that meet the validation requirements for maintaining the temperature regime.
Nevertheless, according to Elena, market participants promptly did a large-scale job of finding alternative suppliers and building new routes, successfully coping with most of the challenges, as evidenced in particular by the growth in the volume of medical cargo handled by Moscow Cargo for 9 months of this year, as well as well-established supplies of medicines that have no analogues in the domestic market. As a specific example, Elena cited the delivery to Russia through the Moscow Cargo terminal of a suspension of Zolgensma, the most expensive drug in the world at present, which is manufactured by the US-based Swiss biopharmaceutical company Novartis Gene Therapies.