12:05 29.06.2016

Ukraine should accelerate creation of national procurement system - expert

2 min read

Ukraine should accelerate the creation of the national procurement system to have an opportunity to conduct medicine procurement itself, including vaccines, after 2019, a representative of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Kateryna Bulavinova said at a roundtable in Kyiv last week.

She said that Ukraine should quickly settle the problem.

"International procurement were approved a temporary phenomenon so that Ukraine could reform itself as a procurer, could become the more modern procurer and could explore the market, trade and sign long-term contracts. There is not a lot of time left to conduct the procurement reform before 2019," she said.

Bulavinova said that the registration of medicines by foreign manufacturers for participation in international procurement does not mean that after the procurement procedure these medicines will enter the market.

"This is not the registration that permits manufacturers to enter private market. Maybe, the fact that manufacturers enter the Ukrainian market with our registration would push them to register medicines for commercial turnover," she said.

The expert said that at present, Ukraine should consider multiple scenarios for all procurement options.

"What will happen [with procurement in Ukraine] after we stop procurement and the country starts procuring itself? For example, what can be done with orphan medicines, diphtheria serum or anti-snake venom serum? We should not resolve these problems as the moment arises. A strategy should be drafted, taking into account the high price of these products in the world and the small amounts produced," she said.

A representative of UNICEF in Ukraine Dragoslav Popovic said that the UNICEF is trying to attract as many manufacturers and suppliers to Ukraine as possible in the vaccine procurement.

He believes that procurement in 2016 would be quicker and more manufacturers would take part in it.

"In coming six months there would be more options for procurement than a year ago. The next procurement [in 2016] will be simpler compared to 2015 as all medicines will be registered in Ukraine," Popovic said.

Orphan medicines are pharmaceutical agents that have been developed specifically to treat a rare medical condition for a small number of patients (up to 200,000 people). Their batch production is not profit-making, and pharmaceutical companies that make them have privileges.

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