According to Tatyana Golikova, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, the Cabinet of Ministers is alarmed by the shortage of domestic therapies for hepatitis C included into the Ministry of Health’s clinical guidelines. Three medicines are not produced in Russia, and six more are produced in the country but with the use of imported substances, Golikova said during a meeting of the Council on Social Guardianship under the government of the country.
“This causes certain concerns, which we have repeatedly discussed with some participants of today’s event. This concerns a topic of unchallenged importance for the Ministry of Industry and Trade and for all manufacturers. This is import substitution, proper and full-fledged. And if this topic is so acute, then it should be included in the lists that we are talking about, so that a drug that is under patent protection is produced and stored, ready for introduction into circulation at any moment,” TASS quotes Golikova as saying.
She also reported that there is no register of patients with hepatitis C in the Russian Federation, so it is impossible to determine the financial need for their treatment, while the data have to be submitted to the Ministry of Finance.
“The amount of 90 billion rubles was mentioned, but today I simply cannot say what the figure is based on,” Tatyana Golikova said.
As the Deputy Prime Minister added, the guidelines of the Ministry of Health on chronic hepatitis C come into force in full from 2024. But if the work on the provision of care in accordance with the clinical guidelines is not organized properly, the inspection authorities will have questions.
In no case should the fight against hepatitis C be postponed even by one year. Such conclusions were announced by leading international and Russian experts at 2022 edition of International Conference White Nights of Hepatology in St. Petersburg.
