December 13-14 this year the conference “Health care and pharmaceuticals – 2018. Forecasts and expectations” was held in Kyiv. The event was supported by the key industry associations – AIPM Ukraine, the European Business Association, APRAD, APAU and AMOMD.

The organizer of the event was the legal company “Legal Alliance”, which unites experts in the field of pharmaceutical law.

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Conference “Health care and pharmaceuticals-2018. Forecasts and expectations” according to many market participants, became one of the most large-scale events of the past year. More than 250 representatives of the health care and pharmaceutical industries took part in it: managers of leading pharmaceutical companies, representatives of the regulator, health care institutions, the public, and professional press.

The event was focused on forecasts of the development and functioning of the health care and pharmaceutical industries, the understanding of which is necessary for the participants of the respective markets in order to confidently enter the new business season. The main issues on the agenda of the event were medical reform in Ukraine, procurement of medicines, the National List of Essential Medicines, as well as ensuring competition in the pharmaceutical market.

The first session of the Conference was dedicated to the Medical Reform, and took place with the participation of representatives of various branches of the national health care system. The panel discussion was attended by Iryna Sysoyenko, Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Health Care, Tetyana Dumenko, Director of the State Expert Center of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, Oleksandr Zhiginas, Health Care Reform Project Manager of the Office of Reforms of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, Yaroslav Augustynovych, chief physician, Vasylkivskyi District Center of Primary Health Care, Communal Institution of the Vasylkivskyi District Council, Oleksiy Babich, general director, chief physician of the Medical Laboratory “Dila”, as well as Olga Lyos, head of the Glevakhivskyi outpatient clinic of general practice of family medicine. The role of moderators of the discussion was performed by Dmytro Aleshko, a partner of JC “Legal Alliance”, and Maryna Buchma, director of relations with state bodies “Teva Ukraine”.

As expected, the reform of the healthcare system became the most discussed topic of the event. The participants of the conference, by means of live voting in the hall, by their majority supported the need to change the model of financing the medical industry and spoke about the existing problems of the modern system. Dmytro Aleshko, commenting on his expectations from the conference and the results achieved during the fruitful discussion, said: “In my opinion, one of the most important messages received from the representatives of state bodies present at this event is the understanding of the need and, importantly, the readiness to work in in the direction of strengthening the processes of public-private partnership. Strengthening Ukraine’s investment attractiveness will give patients access to improving the quality of the medical services they receive. The medical reform is another push to actualize this issue.”

The session “International procurement: the way to 2018” brought together representatives of manufacturing companies, distributors, the pharmaceutical community, as well as Crown Agents, UNDP and UNICEF – international organizations that procure medicines and medical devices for Ukraine. Its moderators were Vitaly Gordienko, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Association of Manufacturers of Innovative Medicines APRaD and Helena Studzinska, Head of the Delta Medical Hospital Department. The discussion was attended by Oleg Gudym, head of the legal department of Delta Medical, Volodymyr Redko, executive director of the Association of Manufacturers of Innovative Medicines APRaD, Tetyana Korotchenko, representative of Crown Agents in Ukraine, Zafar Yuldashev, coordinator of the UNDP procurement program, as well as Anatoly Trukhaniv, manager on the development of tender business “Teva Ukraine”.

During the session, they talked about the results of the work of international organizations in Ukraine in terms of procurement of medicines and medical products, questions were raised about changing approaches to the formation of the nomenclature for procurement, optimizing the terms of delivery of medicines and medical products for Ukrainian patients, as well as other aspects that could b to make international purchases more effective, including the possibility of introducing international experience in Ukraine under long-term contracts.

Within the framework of the session, the processes of reforming the field of public procurement were discussed, in particular, the prospects and terms of the creation of a Centralized Procurement Agency in the country using the experience of foreign countries and the achievements of specialized international organizations that carry out the procurement of medicines and medical products under agreements with the Ministry of Health of Ukraine with 2016. The participants noted some delay in reforming this area and discussed the readiness of international organizations to continue cooperation with the Ministry of Health after March 31, 2019, if the Centralized Purchasing Organization is not fully operational by then.

In addition, the conference participants agreed that one of the tasks for 2018 is the introduction of a negotiation procedure between customers and bidders, which, as the experience of other countries shows, will make it possible to lower drug prices and, accordingly, to purchase more drugs needed by patients.

Closely related to the issue of providing the population with drugs from the budget is Ukraine’s transition to the model of the National List of Essential Medicines, which has been in the news all past year. The third session of the Conference, which was moderated by Volodymyr Ignatov, executive director of the Association of International Pharmaceutical Manufacturers AIPM Ukraine, head of IPSEN Pharma in Ukraine and Moldova, and Nataliya Sergienko, executive director of the European Business Association Health Committee, was devoted to these issues. Roman Ilyk, Deputy Minister of Health of Ukraine, Taras Lyaskovskyi, Head of the Department of Pharmaceutical Activity and Quality of Pharmaceutical Products, Olena Matveeva, Director of the Department of Pharmacovigilance of SE “State Expert Center of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine”, Deputy Chairs of the Expert Committee on the Selection and Use of Essential Medicines, Uanita Folmsby, USAID/SAFEMED Project Manager, Oksana Lebega, Senior Technical Advisor of Health Care Management and Policy, USAID/SAFEMED Project, Dmytro Aleshko, Partner of Legal Alliance JC . In addition, as part of the session, a conference call was held with Hector Castro, senior technical director of the USAID/SAFEMED project, during which Mr. Castro spoke about the global experience of using Health Technology Assessment, approaches to price regulation and reimbursement. The experts who spoke at the event agreed that today in the professional environment there is already an understanding of the need for changes, and this gives grounds for further constructive dialogue between the state and the business environment.

As part of the Conference, the session “Ensuring competition in the pharmaceutical market: on the threshold of change” was held with the participation of the State Commissioner of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine Svitlana Panaiotidi and the head of the Committee’s Sixth Department of Research and Investigations Olena Shevchuk, dedicated to the latest practice of the AMCU in the pharmaceutical sector, as well as a discussion of the challenges faced drug manufacturers and pharmacy chains face each other in the course of organizing cooperation. Natalya Olbert-Synko, director of Be—it Health&Social Impact, moderated the session, and Andrii Horbatenko, associate partner and head of the competition law practice of JC “Pravovy Alyans”, representative of AIPM Ukraine in the public council at the AMCU, presented the interests of the market in a discussion with a representative of the Committee. “The decisions made by the AMCU regarding pharmaceutical companies demonstrate the urgent need for clearer criteria and methods of assessing the behavior of participants in the market for compliance with the requirements of competition legislation. In the absence of such, the most effective way to minimize risks is to receive the AMCU’s advisory clarifications in each specific case,” Andrii Gorbatenko commented on the results of the discussion.

Traditionally, the last session of the first plenary day of the Conference was devoted to forecasts of the development of the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry in Ukraine from the top managers of the pharmaceutical business. The moderators of the session were Ilya Kostin, lawyer, partner of JC “Legal Alliance”, patent attorney, as well as Krzysztof Siedlecki, a well-known expert on the pharmaceutical market. The discussion was attended by Serhii Ishchenko, director of Proxima Research, Artem Matveev, director of sales and marketing of ALKALOID, Georgy Viktorov, head of the Abbott Laboratories Representative Office in Ukraine, Tetyana Pechayeva, general director of the Lekhim group of companies, as well as Pavlo Kharchyk, President of the Association “Medical Devices Market Operators”.

According to Ilya Kostin, representatives of the pharmaceutical market, representing its various segments – domestic manufacturers, foreign originator manufacturers, foreign generic companies, as well as representatives of medical device market operators – were invited to participate in this session. “Despite the fact that the companies are different, the problems they are concerned about turned out to be very similar,” comments Ilya Kostin. – The main risks for business development, according to the experts of the session, lie in the activities of the state and consolidation of pharmacy chains, which are already starting to play a dangerous anti-competitive role.” Serhiy Ishchenko, who presented an overview of the main indicators of the market, noted the positive dynamics of financial resources for 2018, which will provide an opportunity to increase the volume of sales up to 20%. Operators of the medical products market also spoke very optimistically about the prospects for the coming year. In particular, Pavlo Kharchyk noted the increase in sales of medical products and the tendency to localize production.