The national medical summit “Healthy Nation” was held in the capital with the participation of leading domestic and foreign speakers and experts in the field of medicine, management and strategic development.
At the official part of the event, First Vice Minister of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan Timur Sultangaziev, WHO Permanent Representative in Kazakhstan Syla Skender and Chairman of the Public Council of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nadezhda Petukhova made welcoming speeches.
A communication platform was created for representatives of the private and public sectors of the medical community to contribute to the achievement of the national idea of increasing human life expectancy, improving the quality of medical services and stimulating the growth of investments in the field of domestic medicine and medical tourism.
The program includes dialogue platforms during which reports were presented and current issues of health insurance, accessibility of first aid, as well as the status, prospects and ways of developing and supporting domestic production were discussed.
The discussion of the possibilities for developing the healthcare system in Kazakhstan began with the “Health&Talks” platform, held in the TEDx format. The first word was presented to the Vice Minister of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan Vyacheslav Dudnik. He voiced that results in the healthcare sector have a direct social effect, on which not only the lives of specific people, but also the stability of society as a whole largely depends.
In this block, speakers raised issues of global health, prospects for the development of the education and domestic healthcare ecosystem, science and commercialization as a driver of innovative development.
Particular attention was paid to the support and development of domestic production at the panel session, the moderator and speaker of which was the head of the Unified Distributor SK-Pharmacia, Erkhat Iskaliev.
The head of state has previously repeatedly noted the importance of supporting and developing domestic producers. The President instructed to expand the volume and range of off-take contracts with domestic manufacturers, to increase the share of domestically produced medicines and medical products to 50% already in 2025.
“For Kazakhstan, as for any country, the medical pharmaceutical industry is a strategically important component of national security. Issues of development of domestic commodity producers and entrepreneurial initiative are priorities in the activities of the Single Distributor,” noted Erkhat Iskaliyev.
According to IQVIA, for the six months of 2023, the volume of the pharmaceutical market of the Republic of Kazakhstan amounted to 476.6 billion tenge, which is 17.1% higher than last year’s value. However, the number of products sold in physical terms increased by only 0.7%.
In the conditions of unstable conditions in the global economy, it is necessary to stimulate the growth of production of Kazakhstani pharmaceutical products through additional loading of existing pharmaceutical enterprises, updating their fixed assets and launching new production facilities, creating a regulatory framework, removing barriers, and providing basic infrastructure with affordable financing.
The head of the Unified Distributor told participants about the main strategic priorities of the unified distribution system in the development of the pharmaceutical industry. First of all, we talked about the measure of support by the Single Distributor, which is presented in the form of concluding long-term contracts. At the moment, there are 96 long-term contracts concluded with 36 domestic producers for the supply of 4,411 types of medicines.
The mechanism allows domestic manufacturers of medicines and medical devices to launch new or modernize existing production thanks to a guaranteed ten-year government order for medical pharmaceutical products.
It is worth noting that, along with this, the Single Distributor is actively working to attract global BigPharma players to the domestic market. Today there are already significant results in interaction with pharmaceutical giants. For example, in November, for the first time, the historic conclusion of long-term contracts with Pfizer and Roche for the localization of the production of innovative original drugs in the Republic of Kazakhstan took place.
Such collaboration can lead to joint investments as a number of pharmaceutical companies help finance specialized development and manufacturing facilities in strategic CDMOs (Contract development and manufacturing organizations).
An innovation this year was the initiative to conduct group procurement, which was consolidated in the form of a Memorandum of Cooperation and Understanding concluded between the Single Distributor and the Kyrgyzpharmacy State Enterprise under the Ministry of Health of the Kyrgyz Republic. This will ensure increased coverage of the population by saving budget funds while consolidating the purchase of medicines. It is planned to carry out the first pilot purchases for the two countries in 2024.
As part of the Comprehensive Plan for the Development of the Pharmaceutical Industry until 2025, the Single Distributor also initiated the creation of medical and pharmaceutical clusters in the country. The corresponding order of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the creation of clusters in Astana, Aktobe and Shymkent has already entered into force and work is underway to develop and approve road maps.
Their task is to conduct scientific research aimed at creating import-substituting medicines, including by using the potential of long-term contracts, conducting preclinical and clinical trials, with the involvement of domestic universities and pharmaceutical enterprises.
An important area is the improvement of regulatory legal acts. To date, issues of changing the regulatory framework to support the development of the pharmaceutical industry have been worked out. The single distributor has carried out work to introduce changes and additions to regulations in the field of medicines circulation.
Thus, in matters of development of the domestic pharmaceutical industry, the Single Distributor, whose purchase volume is 46% of the total pharmaceutical market in Kazakhstan, plays a significant role. Therefore, special attention is paid to creating favorable conditions to stimulate the development of the industry, developing mechanisms to support domestic production through a unified distribution system.
Kazakhstan has a solid portfolio of government support measures to develop the local market and attract foreign investment in the industry. In this regard, government policy in the field of circulation of medicines, mechanisms for ensuring the sustainability of the pharmaceutical market and maintaining drug availability, grant financing and commercialization of technologies in the healthcare sector, tools for promoting the export of domestic pharmaceutical products and features of domestic commodity production in the medical equipment industry were also actively discussed.
In addition, during the summit, awards were given to domestic producers and finalists of the republican competition. The awards were presented by the Minister of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan Azhar Giniyat and the Vice Ministers of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan Vyacheslav Dudnik and Zhandos Burkitbaev.
The final event of the evening was the ceremony of presenting the national medical award “ALTYN SHIPAGER”. The nominations awarded to the best doctors, scientists, teachers, pharmacists, nursing workers and other representatives of the industry who contributed to the development of medicine in the Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as achieved significant results in the field of medicine and public health.
