Dubious Ukrainian drugs deals involve GSK and Sanofi-Pasteur vaccines
This article was originally published in Scrip
Executive Summary
An investigation conducted at the request of Ukraine's government has put price differentials for vaccines produced by GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi-Pasteur and Denmark's Statens Serum Institute (SSI) at the centre of an alleged illegal pharmaceuticals procurement scandal. The investigation has shown that at least four Ukrainian pharmaceutical suppliers were using similar schemes of importing drugs through foreign and domestic shell companies to overcharge the health ministry. The investigation specifically pinpointed fraud and waste of budget funds in the health ministry's purchase of pharmaceuticals worth more than Hr250 million ($30 million) in 2008-09. Although $30 million represented a small part of $2.7 billion retail drug sales in Ukraine, the story illustrates a malaise which many observers believe is probably more widespread. Furthermore, the investigation also recommends that current Ukrainian state procurement protocols will need to be upgraded in order to prevent repetition of the affair.
You may also be interested in...
Poland's new law fixes prices and trade mark-ups of reimbursed drugs
Poland's president, Bronislaw Komorowski, has signed a reimbursement bill into the law which will come into force on 1 January.
Global pharma boosts business in Russia - Why Russia (introduction)
In the past two years, most multinational pharmaceutical companies announced plans to create production facilities in Russia. They had been ignoring such an opportunity for years, and there were reasons for that. They included risks to investments, administrative barriers, unclear regulations assuming various interpretations and corruption.
Russia's president Medvedev wants talks on trials mutual recognition with US and EU
Russia's president Dmitriy Medvedev has requested that his government start talks with the US and the EU on the mutual recognition of clinical trial results (including paediatric trials) and prepare proposals for corresponding amendments of existing regulations.