FAS to check pricing of drugs not on the list of vital and essential drugs
The regulator plans to base the new model for conducting investigations in the industry on the procedure that was used when forming the order to reduce the price of a drug from the Slovenian manufacturer KRKA, which is not included in the list of vital and essential drugs.
As Nizhegorodtsev noted, currently the mechanism of price regulation of VED, based on "indicative indicators" that eliminate discrimination against Russian manufacturers and create objective prerequisites for administrative decisions, is fully fulfilling its task. In the segment of drugs not included in the VED list, according to the speaker, there is no clarity.
In addition, Timofey Nizhegorodtsev shared the FAS plans to rethink industry compliance - a set of company initiatives aimed at preventing violations of the law by its employees - in the area of selecting contractors. Currently, the regulator receives numerous complaints from distributors who believe that they can supply pharmaceutical products with benefits for the parent company and a reduction in price for the state budget, but cannot pass the manufacturer's compliance procedures. Nizhegorodtsev explained that such requirements are usually identical for different companies, but they are applied to contractors differently.
The deputy head of the FAS noted that the antimonopoly service's thematic campaign in the 2010s was beneficial: pharmaceutical market operators developed requirements for counterparties and rules for their selection. "However, companies have a very high adaptive capacity, they adapted these requirements and procedures and continue to smoke in premises where smoking is not allowed [violating antimonopoly legislation. - Vademecum], but with more developed administrative procedures," Nizhegorodtsev concluded.
In April 2025, the FAS reported an investigation into seven major operators of the domestic pharmaceutical market. The regulator suspected JSC Center for Implementation Protek, JSC Pharmstandard and OOO Primafarm of violating antimonopoly legislation during procurement for the needs of the Federal Center for the Prevention and Control of Pharmaceutical Industry. According to the FAS, JSC GlaxoSmithKline Trading, OOO Advanced Trading, OOO Orpharm and OOO Medpharm entered into a cartel agreement when participating in federal center tenders. At the moment, the results of the regulator's investigations are unknown.
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