Long-term contracts on 523 names of medicines and 389 names of medical products were concluded on August 2 between the single distributor "SK-Pharmaceuticals" and 23 domestic producers.

Now, thanks to a guaranteed ten-year market for the production, pharmaceutical manufacturers will be able to attract investments and within five years to launch a new one or modernize existing production in accordance with the standards of good manufacturing practices of GMP.

Companies to conclude long-term contracts were selected based on the results of an open tender conducted by the Single Distributor from April 11 of this year. The results of the competition were determined last week, and published on the online resource "SK-Pharmaceuticals" http://www.sk-pharmacy.kz July 26, 2017.

772 names of medicines and 1,367 medicinal products were declared for the competition. Within the framework of the competition 48 applications from 44 potential suppliers were considered.

The Ministry of Investment and Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan presented its industry opinion on the submitted business plans and the feasibility study of each of the applications. The main criteria for assessing the contestants were the degree of study of the project, sources of financing, provision of infrastructure and land.

According to the chairman of the board of the single distributor Maxim Kasatkin, companies are given five years to implement the projects, after which the producers will have to start supplying high-quality domestic medicinesto the Kazakhstan hospitals through a single distributor.

Maxim Kasatkin said "From the point of view of the consumer, the importation of foreign medicines and medical products is usually expensive. In addition, the import of products takes time, procedures in government agencies, certificates for their import through customs procedures. Therefore, by developing the out-sowing production, we thereby provide more effective access of the population to domestic products".

According to the head of SK-Pharmaceuticals, to date, the United Distributor has already 30 long-term contracts for the supply of 553 names of medicines and 213 items of medical products. 137 names of medicines and 152 names of medical products from them are already delivered to the domestic hospitals. Such a guaranteed long-term sales market made it possible to attract large investors to the pharmaceutical industry of the country, including important foreign pharmaceutical manufacturers.

Note that at the moment domestic pharmaceutical production covers about 11 percent of the pharmaceutical market in Kazakhstan. At the same time, according to the World Health Organization, in order to ensure national drug safety, its own pharmaceutical production should be at least 30% of the market. Thus, the conclusion of long-term supply contracts contributes to improving the national security of Kazakhstan.