Russian pharmaceutical company Geropharm announced at the Man and Medicine congress the launch of Russia’s first scientific program, Orbita, which will comprehensively study the problem of obesity, taking into account medical, social, and economic aspects. The program will allow for obtaining data without relying on Western research and independently of foreign drug supplies. The study will begin in June 2026, with patients from eight federal districts participating. The company has not yet disclosed the cost of the program or the exact number of patients. As Geropharm CEO Pyotr Rodionov explained to GxP News, this information will not be made public for at least another year, when the first results emerge.
The program was developed in collaboration with the National Medical Research Center for Therapy and Preventive Medicine and the Russian Society for the Prevention of Non-Communicable Diseases. The first track, Jupiter, will be a key stage of the project, helping to understand current clinical practice, learn what patients know about the problem and how the diagnosis affects reproductive health, as well as assess adherence to therapy with modern drugs.
Rodionov added that the Orbita program represents a cascade of studies that will help obtain data and develop treatment and prevention standards specifically for Russian patients, along with specially designed surveys using verified questionnaires, including international scales.
According to him, the project is designed to last several years, and the sample will be continuously expanded — requiring “thousands and thousands” of participants for data reliability. A total of three clinical tracks are planned: therapeutic, cardiological, and endocrinological — for patients of different profiles. One of the key aspects being worked on by the director of the National Medical Research Center for Therapy and Preventive Medicine, the chief freelance specialist in therapy and general medical practice of the Ministry of Health, Oksana Drapkina, is demographic.
Oksana Drapkina, in turn, explained to a GxP News correspondent that all regions will participate in the program, starting with those that express interest first. The work will be organized through chief freelance specialists, general practitioners, and preventive medicine doctors. In each region, target clinics will be selected, and an information campaign will be launched on verified platforms, including the website “Tak Zdorovo” (Be Healthy). A schedule of events will be created and widely publicized. “We have a very reliable stronghold in every region,” Drapkina added.
The director of the NMRC TPM also called the partnership with the pharmaceutical company important for achieving common goals: “Orbita will unite patients and specialists from across the country, and for the first time we will be able to answer questions that have gone unanswered for years.”
According to data from the Russian Ministry of Health, about 25% of Russians suffer from obesity, and 500,000 people receive this diagnosis for the first time each year. Many cases remain undiagnosed — up to a third of the country’s population may have excess weight. The prevalence of obesity leads to a deterioration in quality of life, lower birth rates, early loss of ability to work, and premature mortality.
The Ministry has called the obesity problem an “epidemic of the future.” The head of the ministry, Mikhail Murashko, noted that by 2030, every second adult in the world will be living with excess body weight if habits among citizens do not change. According to him, obesity is not an aesthetic problem but a disease that needs to be treated, including with medication and surgery.
