There is an opinion that if you block sites that sell dietary supplements on the Internet, many will be left without quality drugs, but the Evalar corporation will earn more money.

According to the correspondent The Moscow Post in Altai Krai, the saga continues with lobbying for a bill to block websites selling dietary supplements. The latest news is as follows: Deputy Sergei Neverov, who promotes this initiative, even had to make excuses for the bill, which is said to be designed to “cut off the oxygen” to competitors. This was reported TASS.

Recall that the bill was submitted to the State Duma in June 2021. Then Sergey Neverov and Alexander Petrov offered to block sites that contain information about the sale of dietary supplements. Now the authors propose to extend the law to all food products, so dietary supplements are no longer so obvious.

But the essence of the bill remained the same. If it is accepted, all pages of sites selling dietary supplements will become inaccessible – accordingly, pharmacies will have to stop selling dietary supplements or remove them from the catalog of products that can be purchased with home delivery without prescriptions. The co-authors of the project themselves say that they came up with it “so that there are no scammers selling dummies on the market,” but few people seem to believe in the sincerity of their words.

In fact, the adoption of the bill will primarily hit foreign companies – companies that do not have their stores in Russia will lose the opportunity to sell products in our country. Russian small enterprises specializing in the production of dietary supplements (for example, based on beekeeping products), storing their goods in warehouses and also working on Internet orders will also suffer.

Why are officials stubbornly lobbying the bill, despite the fact that its disadvantages are obvious to everyone? It’s simple – the ears of deputy Alexander Prokopiev and his family business “stick out” from the bill. Prokopyev’s mother Larisa Prokopyev owns the largest pharmaceutical company Evalar, which produces dietary supplements. More about it The Moscow Post wrote earlier.

Alexander Prokopiev

People’s lives are at stake

The problem that may arise when passing a law, in fact, goes far beyond the interests of certain companies. Without products that are vital for maintaining a healthy balance in the body, for example, diabetics can remain. As an alternative, they may be offered dietary supplements from Evalar. But the fact is that they have already been compromised more than once.

So, according to “A New Look”, arsenic was found in one of the preparations of the same “Evalar” in 2016. There were many other scandals around the firm, including those related to their competitive methods. Even the Antimonopoly Service took on Evalar – information on this topic is available on website departments. Prices for the products of this company are by no means small, and with the strengthening of its monopoly position in the market after the adoption of the law, they may well rise. And all this against the backdrop of a shortage of high-quality medical drugs in Russia.

It is known that socially unprotected categories of citizens who need medicines regularly apply to the relevant departments for financial assistance, because there is a catastrophic lack of funds for medicines. Some go to rallies to draw attention to their problem – about how parents of children with disabilities in December 2018 spoke in 17 Russian cities, told “Kommersant”. Previously, HIV patients protested in connection with the “unbearable” prices for medicines – this was reported by IA “Moscow 24”.

Larisa Prokopieva

The situation of the last two years is also indicative, when, in connection with the coronavirus pandemic, people began to buy drugs all over the country – not only antibiotics were in short supply, but also ordinary hydrogen peroxide, which has disinfecting properties, and vitamin D, the lack of which affects the immune system. Wrote about it BBC in Russia. But if such drugs can at least still be purchased in our country, then there are drugs produced only abroad, and their complete ban is tantamount to a death sentence for those certain categories of patients.

In addition, Russia now has a very complicated procedure for registering foreign goods, which also affects the number of foreign pharmaceutical companies willing to cooperate with the country.

So it would be better if gentlemen officials and deputies promote projects that serve not to destroy competitors, but to facilitate the healing of compatriots.

What will really help improve the situation on the drug market?

Medicines need to be regulated from a completely different angle – in 2011 there was a glaring case when a patient in a psychiatric hospital died, presumably because he was treated with some kind of American-made medication, the use of which is prohibited in many countries. Wrote about it “Russian newspaper”, who found out along the way that analogues of this dangerous agent are also produced in Russia. At the same time, as they write “Vedomosti”, the illegal drug market worth hundreds of millions of rubles is flourishing in the country. Why not deal with this problem first?

… Meanwhile, by the way, the financial indicators of “Evalar” are steadily growing, but, apparently, this is not enough for businessmen.

Source: The Moscow Post