The Association of Representatives of International Pharmaceutical Manufacturers AIPM Ukraine (hereinafter – AIPM Ukraine), which represents the interests of leading international pharmaceutical manufacturing companies in Ukraine, appeals to the citizens of Ukraine, representatives of state authorities, mass media, drug manufacturers and advertisers to categorically reject the spread of false information about the availability of special medicines or methods of treatment of the COVID-19 coronavirus.

AIPM Ukraine and the member companies of the Association believe that all participants of the pharmaceutical market should carry out their activities exclusively in compliance with the highest ethical and professional standards at all times, and in the course of crisis situations for the country and the world, this requirement is more critically necessary than ever.

AIPM Ukraine fully supports the call of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine not to trust information from advertisements that offer to purchase alleged means for the treatment and prevention of the COVID-19 coronavirus. At this time, there is no special treatment for the COVID-19 coronavirus, patients in isolation are given symptomatic treatment, in accordance with the recommendations of the World Health Organization [1] .

In particular, the “1+1” television channel is currently advertising the medicine “Dekasan”, produced by “Yuriya-Pharm” LLC, with information on its therapeutic effect on coronaviruses [2] . We emphasize that at this time there are no official publications of recognized medical studies that can confirm the therapeutic or prophylactic effect of any drug in relation to the COVID-19 coronavirus. Such advertising, in our opinion, has signs of dishonesty, about which AIPM Ukraine sent an appeal to the authorities that carry out the relevant state control.

We ask the authorized state bodies to immediately take measures to stop misleading the citizens of Ukraine regarding the above information about the possibility of treatment and/or prevention of the coronavirus, which does not correspond to the official information and recommendations of the WHO and the Ministry of Health of Ukraine.

We call on advertisers and distributors of advertising, including those mentioned above, in this period, which is characterized by increased vulnerability of people to manipulation and deception, including due to possible panic moods, to pay particular attention to their obligations to ensure the integrity of advertising, and state bodies – to the control of this sphere.

It should be noted that, in turn, research and development pharmaceutical companies have mobilized their researchers, revising their priorities, in order to improve their work on the development of a vaccine against COVID-19. However, developing a safe and effective vaccine and producing it in sufficient quantities to protect thousands and millions of people will take a long time.

In normal times, this process of developing a new vaccine from scratch can take ten years or more. Thanks to unprecedented cooperation between private and public stakeholders, we are confident that these deadlines will be reduced. Even so, any report that a vaccine will be ready in two to three months will also need to be scrutinized very carefully.

The international pharmaceutical industry’s priority is to help develop countermeasures against COVID-19, whether vaccines, therapies or diagnostics, and if and when successful, make them immediately available to those who need them.

We would like to emphasize that member companies of AIPM Ukraine consistently advocate for ensuring exclusively honest and ethical activity on the pharmaceutical market of Ukraine by all its players. In addition, the companies take all the necessary measures to ensure reliable and uninterrupted access of citizens of Ukraine to the necessary medicines.

[1] https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/technical-guidance

[2] https://bykvu.com/ua/bukvy/ukrainskie-smi-reklamirujut-fejkovye-lekarstva-ot-koronavirusa/