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New challenges in pharmaceuticals
13:57 / 2024-09-18

Tashkent hosts the 5th Eurasian Pharmaceutical Summit on September 17-19. The summit aims to bring together experts and professionals to discuss key issues in the pharmaceutical industry.

The summit included a “dialogue-on-stage” on “Manufacturer – distributor – pharmacy chain: allies or rivals?” with the participation of Stada Vice President for Eurasia Arminas Macevičius, CEO of Amity International (Kazakhstan) Evgeniy Zemlyankin and Director General of the pharmacy chain Farmacia Familiei (Moldova) Tatiana Koinac. The experts examined the pharmaceutical industry’s transformation and development prospects based on Eurasian countries’ experience.

The roles and relations between manufacturers, distributors, and pharmacies in the pharmaceutical industry have changed significantly in recent years. Manufacturers who invest in active ingredients in advance face the need for storage, customs clearance, and drug sales with deferred payments, which makes them practically sponsors for distributors and state health systems.

“In the modern era of technological development, distribution has become more complex: in addition to logistics, it requires promotion, which many distributors cannot cope with, forcing manufacturers to take on these functions”, notes Arminas Macevičius. “This turns distributors into logistics and microfinance companies, which leads to cash flow gaps”.

Online distribution and pharmacies are gaining popularity. Still, this segment suffers from violations of established rules and regulations and the sale of unregistered and counterfeit drugs.

Logistics problems lead to delays in drug deliveries, which affect the availability of goods in pharmacies and complicate business processes. Legal barriers create specific difficulties – it is difficult for pharmacy chains to compete with illegal online services that do not comply with strict regulatory standards. As a result, there is a need to revise the legal framework to create equal conditions for all market participants.

Considering the trends, the speakers predict further dominance of online sales over the next 5-10 years, which means that a significant portion of drug purchases will take place online. In this context, clear rules and regulations are needed to avoid the market moving into a “gray zone”.

Returning to the technology theme, the speakers noted that AI and robotics are now becoming an integral part of the pharmaceutical business. These technologies can perform various tasks, such as inventory management, demand forecasting, automation of the production process, and other logistics functions. The development of online services requires the widespread integration of AI to improve user experience, optimize supply chains, and support online consultations.

However, despite automation, the need for “live” pharmacists remains in demand since they are highly relevant to complex medical situations, performing specialized tasks and providing advisory services that technology cannot yet completely replace. On the other hand, electronic prescriptions and other systems already reduce the burden on human resources, allowing pharmacists to focus on more complex tasks.

Following the dialogue, the participants agreed that cooperation between the state, pharmacy chains, and distributors is key to ensuring the nation’s health and the pharmaceutical sector’s stable development.

Alpomish Mashrabkhanov, UzA