“Darnitsa” Gleb Zagoria cleans the Ukrainian pharmaceutical market for the interests of Russian business
Pharmaceutical company “Darnitsa”, owned by the former people’s deputy from the “BPP” Gleb Zagoriy, even during a full-scale war manages to increase its market share, catching up with its longtime competitor – “Farmak”. However, the Zagoria brand is taken not by the quality of medicines, but by lawsuits against other manufacturers, as well as by the largest budget for advertising medicines among competitors.
The owner of the pharmaceutical company “Darnitsa” Gleb Zagoriy has long been striving to make the company a leader in the pharmaceutical market of Ukraine. And for this he uses any available methods, regardless of their legality.
Being a people’s deputy of Ukraine of the 8th convocation from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, Zagoriy decided to use political levers for the success of Darnitsa. For example, he sought to appoint the “necessary” people to positions that would allow them to more actively sell the plant’s medicines in Ukrainian pharmacies.
So, in 2015, the head of the State Enterprise “State Expert Center” of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine was appointed Ivan Bavykin. In this connection, specialists from the Anti-Corruption Action Center and the Patients of Ukraine Foundation pointed to the fact that Bavykin previously worked assistant People’s Deputy from the “BPP” Gleb Zagoria. But it is the expert center that issues a conclusion that allows you to enter the drug in the state register of medicines and start selling it.
At the moment, 93% of the shares of the plant belong to offshore Cyprus company Darnitsa Group Limited, where Zagoriy is the beneficiary, and besides, the Zagoriy family are business partners of the family of Valentina Matvienko (head of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation) and not only in this offshore. It was Matvienko who, through the Government of Ukraine, resolved the issues of the privatization of Darnitsa. And here the question arises – does Valentina Matvienko still remain a partner, not only nominally? But what about their statement that they do not work with the Russian Federation?
How Darnitsa takes away the right to produce Korvalol from Farmak
Launching new drugs from Darnitsa does not mean being a leader in the industry. Therefore, Gleb Zagoriy is suing drug manufacturers, wanting to achieve the main goal – to become a leader and even a monopolist in the market.
The process between “Darnitsa” and the “Farmak” plant is indicative, which Zagoria’s company successfully catches up even in the war, increasing market share (for Farmak it is 5.25% and fell in 2022). For several years, Darnitsa has been trying to take away intellectual rights to trademark “Corvalol”. Thus, the owner of the plant wants to become the main supplier of the popular sedative, whose sales in Ukraine in 2022 alone amounted to more than $12 million.
Despite the fact that the Farmak plant became the successor of the Kiev Chemical Pharmaceutical Plant, and in 1996 it separately registered the Corvalol Corvalolum trademark, Darnitsa wants to take the name of the drug for itself, as it produces the sedative Corvalol-Darnitsa. And to produce a medicine with the same name to different companies in our country is prohibited.
Thanks to connections in the Ukrainian politicians and courts, the former People’s Deputy Gleb Zagoriy tipped the scales of justice in his favor: in January 2023, the Supreme Court of Ukraine canceled the recognition of the Corvalol Corvalolum trademark (Farmak products) as “well known”. That is, representatives of Farmak now do not have expanded opportunities to achieve a ban on the use of the name Corvalol by Darnitsa.
The management of Farmak considers such a precedent to be dangerous. After all, now the courts can hypothetically cancel any decision of the Appellate Chamber of the Ministry of Economy on recognizing a particular trademark as “well-known”. This means that clone drugs can enter the pharmaceutical market, which will be popular only because of the well-known name. And the system for protecting intellectual property rights, representatives of Farmak are sure, is now under threat.
As the owner of Farmak, Zhebrovskaya, was previously under the threat of physical violence. In 2009, unknown shot at a businesswoman. Then law enforcement sources reported that one of the suspects in ordering the murder was precisely the competitor of the victim. Gleb Zagory. However, political connections helped him avoid any punishment.
Filya Zhebrovskaya
Zagoria company absorbs Borshchagovsky Chemical Pharmaceutical Plant
Gleb Zagoriy completely crushes other competitors under himself. Formerly a businessman for next to nothing acquired 30% of the shares Borshchagovsky Chemical Pharmaceutical Plant, paying for them 6 times lower than the market value. At the same time, surprisingly, without falling into the field of view of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine.
A year before the big Russian invasion, Gleb Zagoriy took another step to get his hands on the Borshchagovka plant. At a meeting of the Kyiv City Council in March 2021, almost 1.2 hectares of land on which the enterprise stands, sold Zagoria for 21 million UAH. It is noteworthy that the main competitor of the politician in the pharmaceutical business, the owner of Farmak, Filya Zhebrovskaya, at the same plenary session, lost the right to buy the land under her plant.
Although on February 23, 2021, after numerous disputes, the deputies of the Kyiv City Council allowed Farmak JSC to buy 6.3 hectares of land from the capital community for 216.9 million hryvnias, on which the Kyiv Pharmaceutical Plant is located. But in March, the head of the capital, Vitali Klitschko, vetoed the decision, and the land under the asset of Zhebrovska remained in the city’s property. Whereas Gleb Zagoriy made a similar deal without the slightest problem.
However, the purchase is accompanied by lengthy lawsuits. Since the spring of 2018, courts of various instances have been considering the case on the possible illegal sale of Gleb Zagoriy’s stake in PJSC NPTs Borshchagovskiy Chemical-Pharmaceutical Plant, previously owned by the metropolitan community, to PJSC FF Darnitsa.
The case was opened by the Kyiv Economic Court on April 2, 2018. Representatives of the Borshchagovsky Chemical-Pharmaceutical Plant filed a lawsuit to invalidate the exchange trading. The lawsuit was sent to “Darnitsa”, the Department of Communal Property of the Kyiv City State Administration and Kyiv City Council.
In May 2018, Zagoria filed a counterclaim, which, according to the decision of the Economic Court dated May 10, 2018, was combined with the original BHFZ claim into one court case.
In August 2020, the Northern Economic Court of Appeal fully satisfied the claim of the plant and refused to satisfy the counter, from Darnitsa. However, in October 2020, the Supreme Court finally confirmed the ownership of the pharmaceutical company “Darnitsa” to the shares of “Borshchahiv Chemical and Pharmaceutical Plant” and the legality of their acquisition.
In 2021 “Darnitsa” won the court at the BHFZ and at the High Court of Justice in London. Now Gleb Zagoriy is determined to completely absorb the enterprise, motivating this by the fact that in Soviet times the Borshchagovsky plant was already part of Darnitsa.
Valentina Matvienko
Trade with Russia through the occupied territories
And yet, despite the full-scale war of Russia against Ukraine, drugs from the Zagoria plant can still be found on the shelves of Russian pharmacies. Perhaps because the businessman’s mother is a classmate of the current head of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation, Valentina Matvienko. The women studied together at the Leningrad Institute of Chemical Technology and have been in a relationship ever since.
Who have passed to the level of sons. Matvienko’s son Sergey is a Russian businessman who, among other assets, owns the Erkapharm pharmacy chain. It is in this network that you can still find medicines manufactured at the Gleb Zagoria plant. Considering that it is legally impossible to export products to Russia, Zagoriy has established “gray” supplies of medicines through the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Lugansk regions. Transit through which the goods go to Russian retail. Needless to say, the state of Ukraine does not receive any tax collections from these sales?
Bribery of owners of pharmacy chains
While socially responsible businesses are engaged in volunteer projects and actively help the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Gleb Zagoriy continues to corrupt pharmacy chains in order to increase sales of medicines produced by Darnitsa.
Representatives of the plant offer pharmacies a simple scheme. Chains should sell drugs produced at the Zagoria plant as much as possible and sell them at prices 30-40% higher than those of competitors. At the same time, pharmacies undertake to ignore the products of other Ukrainian pharmaceutical manufacturers as much as possible, ensuring the sale of the obviously expensive products of Darnitsa. For this, representatives of the Gleb Zagoria company pay remuneration to drug distributors, registering it as “marketing services”. The amount of “premium” is from a quarter to 40% of the value of the goods. Although during the war it would be much more correct to transfer this money to help our armed forces or settlers.
As a result, pharmacy chains cooperating with Darnitsa under this program apply non-competitive methods to other manufacturers. Their products are either ignored, or they offer companies to pay extra to the pharmacy chain so that their medications are on display next to Darnitsa products.
Such actions are worthy of the attention of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine, as they violate market competition and do not leave the final consumer the right to choose.
Darnitsa and PR instead of charity
In popular publications, Gleb Zagoriy is trying to promote the image of a patriot and philanthropist, whose company is actively helping Ukraine during a full-scale war. As he said in an interview, “Forbes Ukraine”, “Darnitsa” after February 24, 2022 did not stop working for a minute. Moreover, the company retained the staff with whom it pays for work in a timely manner, and also increased the production and sale of certain drugs. For example, cardiovascular and sedatives.
However, Zagoriy immediately reveals the “secret” of high sales: in the military 2022, Darnitsa became the leader in advertising budgets. About UAH 60 million was spent on it, while Farmak allocated up to UAH 40 million for this direction, and Arterium – UAH 20 million. Gleb Zagoriy is sure that even war is not a reason to “cut” advertising investments. Or maybe it would be better to spend this money on charity?
Skeleton.Info
