OREANDA-NEWS. October 21, 2011. RUSNANO and NEARMEDIC PLUS will establish a pharmaceutical factory to manufacture original nanomedicines from the polymer-drug family of medicines that is the object of rapid development today. Manufacturing, which will encompass the entire cycle of drug production, will follow GMP principles. The project has a total budget in excess of four billion rubles of which RUSNANO will co-invest 1.2 billion rubles. Manufacturing facilities will be in Obninsk, in Kaluga Oblast. Production of the nanomedicines is scheduled to begin in late 2013.

NEARMEDIC’s pharmaceuticals production will be based on Kagocel®, a proprietary antiviral available over the counter and approved in Russia and CIS. Construction of the new GMP-tailored manufacturing facility will enable NEARMEDIC to remove production from rented facility and greatly expand production of Kagocel and further strengthen its domestic and international market positions.

Kagocel is a compound of an active plant-based gossypol molecule with a nanosized polymer. The joining of this small molecule to the high-molecular-weight polymer-carrier prevents absorption into the gastrointestinal tract with concomitant loss of the active ingredient into the organism. Kagocel prolongs the drug’s pharmacological activity and avoids toxicity. Therein lies its uniqueness. Kagocel elicits the formation of alpha- beta and gamma-interferon in the human organism. The interferons have highly antiviral activity, effective in treatment and prevention of flu and other acute respiratory infections and in treatment of herpes infections (including recurrent genital herpes).

Since entering the market, Kagocel’s sales have grown 13-fold, and they continue to rise at a faster pace that the rest of the antivirals market. The drug is one of the top ten medicines sold in this segment.

“The antiviral medicines segment is the most dynamically growing in the Russian pharmaceutical market,” noted RUSNANO Managing Director Olga Shpichko. “The project will facilitate product expansion for this promising antiviral drug developed by Russian scientists”