OREANDA-NEWS. January 20, 2010. State Corporation ‘Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs (Vnesheconombank)’ started to finance the project aimed at building an antibiotics and anticancer drugs manufacturing factory on the territory of Terbuny special economic zone in the Lipetsk region.

The funds were made available in order to implement credit agreements on financing this project in the total amount of 66 million euros for a period of 7 years. The agreements were concluded by Vnesheconombank and CJSC Rafarma in December 2009.

The project is being implemented with the assistance of Russia’s Minpromtorg, the Russian Health and Social Development Ministry, the Lipetsk Region Administration and is in conformity with the main points of the strategy for the development of Russia’s pharmaceutical industry for a period of up to the year 2020. Drugs scheduled to be manufactured are included in the list of vital medications approved by the Russian Government as well as in the list of medications purchased for the Russian Armed Forces. These drugs are provided to subsidized households.

Up to 90 % of these drugs are planned to be sold under the government procurement programs.

Due to the production capacity of a factory to be built (101 million antibiotics packages and 869 thousand anticancer drugs packages per year) the demand for certain types of drugs in 6 major consumer regions (Moscow, the Moscow region, the Krasnodar region, Saint Petersburg, the Republic of Bashkortostan, the Republic of Tatarstan) can be met.

The Project’s implementation would reduce the share of imported drugs with regard to certain types of antibiotics by 60-70% and by 15 % of the total amount of manufactured antibiotics.

It’s the first time that the Bank for Development is participating in financing a project in the pharmaceutical sector. Medical equipment and pharmaceutics were included in the list of Vnesheconombank’s investment activity priorities in late 2009 (Russian Government Order dated November 26, 2009, №1783-r “On Introducing Changes in the Memorandum on Financial Policies of State Corporation ‘Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs (Vnesheconombank)’”.