Kiev held a conference devoted to the topic « Pharmaceutical Business: Summary 2011 – Expectations 2012»

Annual conference of the Legal Alliance Company on « Pharmaceutical Business: Summary 2011 – Expectations 2012» took place in Kiev on December 9 this year.

The event was supported by the European Business Association, the Association of International Pharmaceutical Manufacturers (AIPM Ukraine),  and the marketing company SMD.  Media support for the Conference was provided by the magazines "pharmaceutical carrier", "Modern Pharmacy", "Mister Blister", "Medical Practice", "Pharmacist", "Pharmacist Practitioner", as well as Internet portals Pravotoday, Pharma.net.ua and Medpharmconnect.

The conference brought together more than 100 people, among whom were representatives of pharmaceutical companies, health institutions, NGOs, media, pharmaceutical and legal orientation, lawyers, patent attorneys, as well as government representatives.

The event was opened by the Partners with the Legal Alliance Company Illya Kostin and Oleksiy Bezhevets.

Speaking about the conference Illya Kostin  said: «Usual business routine, as well as huge amount of amendments to legislation, regulating pharmaceutical market, often distract attention from really important issues. In order to help those, who work in pharmaceutical market in these hard times, we traditionally hold final conference, summarizing results of the expiring year».

According to Oleksiy Bezhevets, partner with the Legal Alliance Company the purpose of the conference was summarizing what has occurred, finding out trends, analysis of positive experience in solving legal issues, actual for the  pharmaceutical market. “We consciously do not want and can not afford turning this final event into a medley of our monthly workshops. We will single out the most important issues, in our opinion, and we will share our experience in solving problems of the expiring year».

The event was divided into two parts, which were held in two neighboring halls, thus providing the participants with the opportunity to plan their schedule themselves and attend reports based on their choice. This year we tried to organize the program of the event to make it equally interesting and useful to managers of pharmaceutical companies, supervising different directions. That is why among the participants of the Conference were CEOs of pharmaceutical companies, field force managers, business-units managers, marketing departments specialists, medicines registration specialists, medical departments specialists, state procurement specialists, lawyers of pharmaceutical companies, state regulatory authorities specialists, lawyers and patent attorneys, working in the field of pharmaceutical law;

The participants of the conference presented reports on key issues of the outgoing year. In the first stream there were presentations on price registration for the medicines, GMP standards in the pharmaceutical business, licensing conditions, as well as changes to the Article 9 of the Law of Ukraine "On Medicines", Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine resolution № 902 , Customs Code of Ukraine. The second stream has gathered everyone who was interested in the personal data in the activities of pharmaceutical companies, competition, advertising and promotion in the pharmaceutical market, the protection of the medicinal product in Ukraine, and the legislation on combating corruption.

The report “Personal Data in the activities of pharmaceutical companies”, presented by Legal Alliance Company lawyers Lidiya Sangarovskaya-Gurlach and Yana Kartseva, covered the legal aspects of creating, processing, recording personal data, outlined a practical plan on preparation of the internal documents of pharmaceutical companies for the processing of personal data in order to avoid violations that result in administrative and criminal liability, the practice of inspections from the State Service for the protection of personal data as well as the prospects for 2012 in the field of personal data.

“Medicines Prices Registration” report by the Partner with the Legal Alliance Company  Illya Kostin  has been devoted to the analysis of the premises and methodology of registration for medicines and medical products prices. Problematic issues and perspectives in this area, as well as disadvantages and risks associated with registration prices analysis  was of particular practical value to  the audience .

One of the most popular topics of the conference was dedicated to the competition in advertising and promotion on the pharmaceutical market.  On outcomes and expectations in this area spoke Oleksiy Bezhevets, Partner with the Legal Alliance Company and Councel Andriy Gorbatenko. Speakers reviewed the changes in legislation, new approaches and trends, interesting cases in advertising and promotion of medicines. Special attention was awarded the regulation of competition in the pharmaceutical market and prospects in this area for 2012.

Attention of the audience was also attracted by the GMP standard in the pharmaceutical business, which brought up by the Partner with the Legal Alliance Company IIlya Kostin and medical advisor Leonid Shylovskiy. In addition Tahtaulova Natalia, Head of Licensing and certification of the State agency of medicines of Ukraine spoke on this issue as an invited expert. "Not every state structure can boast of such openness in respect of market participants - said IIlya Kostin. – Opennes of the State agency of medicines of Ukraine, as well as professionalism of its employees were clearly demonstrated by Natalia Tahtaulova, head of licensing and certification of production. Her expert opinion was very important for the audience comprising of the market participants, gathered in the hall. As you know, the introduction of mandatory verification of GMP certificate for production of medicines is very relevant for Ukraine. Comments and answers to of Natalia Tahtaulova gave the opportunity to shed the light on some standard peculiarities of certification and  many more ".

In the third section of the conference on the protection of medicinal products in Ukraine, a Partner with the Legal Alliance Company Oleksiy Bezhevets and Senior Lawyer Natalia Lavrenova outlined changes in legislation concerning the protection of medicinal products from the competition (Article 9 part 9), trends, and practical tips on protecting and countering violations of the rights of melicinal products producers.

The  presentation on the legislation on combating corruption was intoduced by Partner with the Legal Alliance Company Oleksiy Bezhevets and Lawyer Lidiya Sangarovskaya-Gurlach. Their reports summarized legislative novels of 2011 and established practices of their application. Audience was interested in separation of administrative and criminal liability of health workers and representatives of pharmaceutical companies for violations of the Law of Ukraine, “On the Fundamentals of Preventing and Countering Corruption”,the practice of accountability for these violations. Speakers offered their vision of the marketing activity without violating the provisions of the legislation on corruption.

The conference ended with a very informative report of SMD Deputy Chief Evgeniy Zhivodernikov on "General characteristics of the pharmaceutical market of Ukraine". Market analysis, given by Mr. Zhivodernikovym perfectly demonstrated the results with which the pharmaceutical market went up to the end of 2011, and market trends for the coming year. In particular, he has identified the following among the characteristic of the pharmaceutical business in Ukraine:

• Pharmaceutical business in Ukraine - the structural unit of a market economy almost completely dependent on the population's purchasing power and macroeconomic equilibrium of the market (relation between demand and supply).
• Pharmaceutical business in Ukraine - the structural unit of the sphere of goods and services, "separated" from the country's health system.
• Pharmaceutical business in Ukraine, in contrast to the other segments of the market resides in the area of the most careful attention of supervisors.
• Pharmaceutical business in Ukraine is constantly being subjected to regulatory influences (as a rule - not economically justified) from all branches and levels of government. Pressure intensifies on the eve of the elections and in case of worsening economic situation in the country.
• Pharmaceutical Business in Ukraine has a negative image created by the efforts of the media and some government officials

After Mr. Zhivodernikov’s speech, Partners with the Legal Alliance Company IIlya Kostin and Oleksiy Bezhevets invited guests and speakers for a glass of champagne, where the New Year's surprise for the clients of the Legal Alliance was announced. In the following year, participation in the training mini-seminars, conducted by the our lawyers will be free for the employees of client companies. To confirm this, representatives of the client companies were given plastic loyalty cards for 2012. The partners also shared their positive impressions of the event, thanked all present for attending and invited for further cooperation.

After the official part of the conference there were a legal workshop "Legal News for Lawyers 2011", where in legal language lawyers of the Legal Alliance and our colleagues have been able to discuss the functioning of the legal departments of pharmaceutical companies, and their interaction with external consultants, a series of practical questions of a legal nature, as well as practice of their settlement. A special format of presentation followed by lively debate workshop made the whole conference very interesting and useful for all participants.