AstraZeneca plans $150m plant in Russia
pharmafile | February 22, 2011 | News story | Manufacturing and Production, Sales and Marketing | AstraZeneca, Russia, emerging pharma markets, pharma manufacturing
AstraZeneca has become the latest drugmaker to announce the construction of a manufacturing facility in Russia to help sidestep possible blocks on the sale of imported medicines.
Russian President Vladimir is planning to boost domestic production of pharmaceuticals to around 50% of demand – and reduce the country’s reliance on imports from its current level of around 81% – by giving preference to domestically-made medicines over imports in the national reimbursement system.
AstraZeneca’s new $150 million facility near Moscow will be used to produce cancer and cardiovascular drugs as well as other medicines, according to a Reuters report.
Construction is due to begin in April and the plant is expected to be online in the spring of 2013, with an annual production capacity of around 16 million packs.
Nenad Pavletic, president of AstraZeneca Russia, said the company would also be investing in R&D in Russia to “support Russian innovative developments in fundamental science”.
In January, Novartis strode down a similar path with the announcement of a $500 million investment in a large-scale manufacturing plant in St Petersburg, while GlaxoSmithKline recently forged a joint venture with local firm JSC Binnopharm for the secondary manufacture of a number of GSK vaccine products in Russia.
Previously, Novo Nordisk unveiled plans to build a $100 million insulin-producing plant in Russia, while Sanofi-Aventis bought a controlling take in another insulin plant and Nycomed said it was planning to build a liquid sterile and solid oral dosage form facility for around $90 million.
The pharmaceutical manufacturers are keen to tap into Russia’s domestic drug market, which is predicted to grow quickly over the coming years thanks to the increasing prosperity of its 140 million population.
The market was estimated at around $18.5 billion in 2009 according to domestic market research firm DSM, an18% increase on 2008, although growth slowed as a result of the global recession during 2010.
Having a local plant is expected to help AstraZeneca increase its market share from a level of around 1.4% in 2009, well behind other multinationals such as Sanofi-Aventis (4.2%), Novartis (3.8%) and Roche (3.4%), as well as local players such as Farmstandard (3.5%).
Phil Taylor
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