Foreign pharmaceutical companies have begun to evaluate the Russian market, more stable than two years ago. During the 31st Russian Pharmaceutical Forum, Tadzio Schilling, the General Director of the Association of European Businesses, discussed the results of a survey conducted within the association.
“Despite all the difficulties, foreign businesses continue to operate in Russia. This suggests that thanks to the course chosen by the government, foreign companies were also able to adapt and now have a clear idea of how they can continue to exist and work in Russia. And this is good. We, as the Association of European Businesses, will support this in every possible way. We hope that over time the negative factors that exist now will weaken or be completely eliminated. It will be good if we don’t have to start cooperation from scratch,” he noted.
He added that, in order to foster the possibility of future productive collaboration, it is essential that mechanisms for intellectual property protection are not employed as unfair elements of competition.
“We are glad that Russian manufacturers are presenting new innovative projects. We see that this is healthy competition. A compulsory license should be used in exceptional cases, extremely carefully, taking into account many circumstances,” the expert emphasized.
He also expressed hope that there will soon be clarification on what specific company actions can be considered underused of a patent, so that bona fide foreign manufacturers can avoid compulsory licensing of their products.
