Geropharm has been placed on the register of unscrupulous suppliers for two years due to the failure to secure a government contract for vital drugs.
The Volgograd Office of the Federal Antimonopoly Service has included one of the major players in the Russian pharmaceutical market in the Unified Register of Unscrupulous Suppliers (URS) for a period of two years, until March 2028.
The reason is the failure of a government contract to supply a vital drug.
This decision, in addition to dealing a serious blow to the company's reputation and its ability to participate in public procurement, calls into question the stability of its drug supply. The situation arose due to Geropharm's failure to fulfill its obligations under a government contract. The shortfall in the supply of a critically important medication directly impacted patients' ability to receive timely treatment, creating shortages and jeopardizing their health. Inclusion in the RNP means the company will be banned from participating in most state and municipal procurements for two years.
This is a serious challenge for Geropharm, which actively participates in tenders to secure its market share. Currently, Geropharm's situation in the Volgograd region directly affects the supply of insulin and diabetes medications, which form the core of the company's portfolio. Supplies of an entire line of insulin medications, such as RinGlar (glargine), RinLiz (lispro), and RinFast (aspart), as well as analogs of the popular Ozempic (semaglutide), for which the company has been engaged in active patent disputes, are at risk.
As a result of the Federal Antimonopoly Service's decision, the Volgograd Region Ministry of Health will be forced to urgently seek alternative suppliers, which could result in patients being transferred to insulins from other manufacturers. The new tender process will take some time, inevitably leading to shortages in pharmacy warehouses. The redistribution of medications from other regions could take several weeks to months. Since Geropharm is unable to participate in the tenders, patients will receive generic versions from other Russian or foreign manufacturers instead of the usual RinGlar or RinFast.
Although the active ingredient (insulin) remains the same, individual responses to excipients from a different manufacturer may require dosage adjustments under a physician's supervision. Doctors will have to change brand names in electronic charts, which will increase waiting lists and lead to longer scheduled appointments for diabetes patients. If the medication is not available at a discounted price, patients may be forced to purchase it at full price from commercial pharmacies, which is not affordable for all categories of patients.
The situation with Geropharm is becoming even more pressing in light of the ongoing legal dispute with the international pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca. The case concerns patent infringement on the active ingredient dapagliflozin, used in the drug Flodapi. Against the backdrop of these legal battles and accusations of intellectual property infringement by AstraZeneca, which the company's press service calls “a striking example of the violation of citizens' rights in the pharmaceutical industry,” Geropharm's inclusion in the RNP appears particularly alarming.
