Kazakhstan eyes attracting investors for dev’t of pharmaceutical clusters
At the beginning of the pandemic, not a single country was ready for sharp surges in pharmaceutical drug consumption, including Kazakhstan, informs referring to the Kazakh media.
The drug procurement, supply, and distribution system had a planned approach. But last year there was a forced reboot of the system, the Chairman of the Board of SK-Pharmacy Erhat Iskaliev said.
First of all, the changes concerned the issue of logistics. So, for example, earlier it took up to 2 weeks to transport products, but now it is possible to deliver medicine to any part of the country within a day.
Cross-docking is now used for the storage of goods. To solve the problem of drug shortages, it was decided to maintain a two-month supply. Forty-four most scarce drugs were identified through a forecast of two-month consumption.
This stock is currently kept in four hubs. Such dispersed storage allows the most efficient distribution of the necessary drugs in regions.
“Thus, the system now works more harmoniously: as soon as there is overconsumption, we deliver the goods on the same day and make out the next purchase. It allowed us to respond to any need within half a day,” SK-Pharmacy Chairman of the Board Erhat Iskaliev said.
Speaking about the production of vaccines against coronavirus infection, Erhat Iskaliev underlined the work of the , which is currently manufacturing the Russian Sputnik V COVID jab.
“Many experts noted a fairly quick response and production establishment. We have a stable quota, which has been signed for 2 million doses. Part of the volume was from Russia, now the main share comes from the Karaganda Pharmaceutical Complex,” Iskaliev noted.
Kazakhstan is now preparing to release its own vaccine. By attracting large Big Pharma investors to the development of pharmaceutical clusters, Kazakhstan is fighting to develop the domestic market. One of the reasons for this is the consolidation of contracts in SK-Pharmacy. It is also important to consider what conditions Kazakhstan can offer in terms of exemption from foreign exchange risks. Negotiations are underway with companies such as Roche, Pfizer.
“We are considering separately the issue of country programs that they provide. A very important question here is what will be the consumption from our side. The second is what drug trends they are proposing. We must understand that, for example, Russia itself is a big competitor. And in Russia, the market is at least 10 times larger. But we have other advantages – we can do things faster,” he added.