The Ural Chamber of Commerce and Industry discusses health protection of the able-bodied population and problems of the pharmaceutical market

A meeting of the Committee on Entrepreneurship in Healthcare and Medical Industry of the Ural Chamber of Commerce and Industry was held in Ekaterinburg on March 18, 2025, chaired by Alexander Petrov. Participants of the event, including representatives of the Association of Medical Specialists for Risk Modification, the Association of Medical and Pharmaceutical Manufacturers of the Sverdlovsk Region, the Ural Biomedical Cluster and members of the Committee considered key challenges in maintaining the health of the able-bodied population, fighting against socially significant diseases and regulating prices for vital drugs. 

Risk factor modification: fight against COPD and diabetes mellitus.

The speech by Natalia Esaulova, head of the department of differential diagnostics of tuberculosis at the Ural Research Institute of Phthisiopulmonology, was devoted to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). She noted that 60% of patients with this diagnosis die within five years, and the main risk factors remain smoking and harmful working conditions. The speaker emphasized that early diagnosis and smoking cessation are essential, as each subsequent COPD exacerbation leads to a decrease in the effectiveness of therapy. Natalia Esaulova proposed putting in place corporate screening programs at enterprises.

– «As a proposal – approaching companies and creating corporate programs. We are ready to take an active part in it. The economic benefits of these measures will not be long in coming, because this is early diagnosis. We will increase the number of people who will not have disease progression and we will retain personnel in production. Screening, monitoring, and schools – everything can be done on site, by approaching some companies. And all this is in line with national objectives».

The project of cooperation with the Pervouralsk Novotrubny Plant, which employs 10% of the population of the town of Pervouralsk, will be a pilot project. The mortality caused by COPD in Pervouralsk reaches 21.1 per 100 thousand population. The purpose of the project is early diagnosis, providing patients with medications and modifying risk factors – smoking. 

Tatyana Gracheva, head of the endocrinology department of Sverdlovsk Regional Clinical Hospital No. 1, focused on diabetes mellitus. According to her data, 7% of Russians suffer from this disease, but half of the cases remain undiagnosed. According to the speaker, the fight against diabetes begins before the disease appears. Obesity, hypodynamia and smoking are key risks. Corporate fitness programs and workplace nutrition audits can make a difference:

– «It will be very interesting to audit companies for the physical activity and nutrition of their employees (just the composition: calories, proteins, fats, carbohydrates). For example, if we note that the physical activity in the company is very low, we can offer the company management to support their workers by providing, for example, discounted membership to fitness centers».

Tatyana Gracheva also proposed to revive subsidized sanatoriums for patients with diabetes and enhance online health schools. 

Drug pricing: challenges for domestic manufactures.

Irina Makarova, head of the registration department of Medsintez Plant LLC, criticized the method for calculating maximum prices for vital and essential drugs (VED). According to her, focusing on prices in «unfriendly» countries of the EU and NATO, such as Poland or the Netherlands, puts Russian producers in a vulnerable position. The speaker explained that today we need to focus on the current economic and geopolitical situation in our country and the EAEU member states:

– «Almost all major manufacturers of sodium chloride infusion solutions have reduced their production volumes by 40-50%, since the production cost of the drugs has increased by almost 300% over the past two years, while the selling price remains below the cost of water in retail grocery stores.»

The meeting attendees supported the initiative to revise the existing method and provide for the «cost-based» pricing method and multiplying coefficients for localized production facilities. The proposals will be sent to the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) and the Government of the Russian Federation. 

Alexander Shumsky, head of the Ethics Committee, called the actions of the FAS «the destruction of strategically important pharmaceutical production facilities». In his opinion, demands to reduce prices, referring to Greece or Belgium, are part of a hybrid war, and this is not a topic for the Ministry of Health, but for the the Federal Security Service [FSB].

Participation in the Eurasian Medical Forum.

The Committee plans to present projects for corporate health, cooperation between the state, employers and public institutions in modifying risk factors for able-bodied people, as well as for the formation of health-preserving knowledge and habits among different age categories of the population at the Eurasian International Medical Forum in May 2025. The event is timed to coincide with the celebration of the 80th anniversary of Victory and will bring together participants from the BRICS countries. 

Following the meeting, decisions were made to support corporate health programs: to introduce screenings for COPD and diabetes in companies, to promote fitness memberships and nutrition audits, and to exchange successful practices between companies in the Sverdlovsk Region.

As part of the regulatory activities, it is planned to approach the Ministry of Health with proposals to supplement clinical recommendations with sections on harm reduction (for example, switching to less dangerous alternatives to smoking) and to initiate a revision of the pricing method for VED. 

In terms of participation in federal projects, the meeting considered proposals for the integration of regional initiatives into the national project Long and Active Life and for holding round tables with the participation of medical doctors, scientists and business community. 

Alexander Petrov, Chairman of the Committee, noted that preserving the health of the able-bodied population is a task that requires the consolidation of efforts by business, medicine and state:

– «We will promote these initiatives at the level of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation. The issues of drug pricing and the fight against smoking are not only of economic or medical nature, they are issues of national security».