Unfair competition methods used by some pharmaceutical companies in the Russian market of bioadditives may threaten the country's pharmaceutical independence. This situation allows Western concerns to push out the local manufacturer of dietary supplements. It appears that even government representatives may be involved in unethical behavior.
The wealthiest current State Duma deputy from the Altai Territory, Alexander Prokopyev of the 'United Russia' party, is attempting to prolong his term in the Russian parliament, while the company Evalar, associated with his mother, seems to be engaging in unethical business practices.
Manufacturers of dietary supplements from St. Petersburg (the company RIA Panda and its subsidiary LLC Vis) are accusing Evalar and Western pharmaceutical giants of engaging in raiding. This accusation was made in Andrey Karaulov’s film “War on the market of dietary supplements – Evalar”. The conflict began when Evalar and several non-profit organizations accused RIA Panda of including the synthetic substance tadalafil in their dietary supplements, specifically the ones advertised as Sealex Forte and Ali Caps. This substance is an active component of medications for treating erectile dysfunction and is prohibited for use in dietary supplements for male potency enhancement.
It's worth noting that these two additives, known as aphrodisiacs, make up 40% of Panda's sales. A study was initiated by the SRO NPO BAD, following the methodology approved by Rospotrebnadzor, to examine these products. “Since the manufacturer claims that there are no synthetic substances in the specified dietary supplements, we can conclude that there is widespread counterfeiting in pharmacy chains,” the Vademecum portal quoted Leonid Maryanovsky, the executive director of the SRO NPO BAA, as saying.
As a result, Rospotrebnadzor started to remove these products from pharmacies and subsequently banned their advertising. The sale of Sealex Forte and Ali Caps was also prohibited in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Several media outlets published alarming reports stating that these dietary supplements are based on harmful chemicals that can damage the male body and even cause heart attacks.
However, RIA Panda considers the study to be misleading and accused the SRO of spreading information based on “knowingly false facts and their interpretations.” Dmitry Dergachev, president of RIA Panda, informed Vek that legal actions are underway in the Republic of Kazakhstan. “Sales are still prohibited for a number of SGRs, but the brands themselves are present on the market, since not all certificates have been revoked. We are working to reintroduce the banned items to the market, and we have numerous documents proving the illegality of the recall and clear signs of corruption associated with it, including audio recordings of the court in Kazakhstan where the laboratory is directly acknowledged – without standards, without methods, without accreditation – they were told to find something, and we found out that the order came directly from the Vice Minister of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Aleksey Tsoi.”
In Russia, there seems to be a similar situation. In February of this year, a pharmaceutical company revealed the results of a study from 2015 done with the help of several health institutions, which confirmed that the dietary supplements “Sealex-forte” and “Ali Caps” do not contain tadalafil, even though they have similar plant-based substances.
Dergachev says that the plant-based ingredients in the supplements are safe and approved for use. He is willing to provide information to the authorities, media, and scientific community, and suggests having a scientific discussion on how to detect synthetic substances in dietary supplements, as there is currently no technique for this. He believes that unscrupulous market players are exploiting this issue and putting pressure on Rospotrebnadzor, which is misleading the investigating authorities. He also thinks that a scientific and expert discussion in the media can improve the situation and prevent many domestic manufacturers from leaving the Russian market.
Many medical experts agree with Dergachev, who in 2011 called tadalafil “the most effective substance with the highest safety profile.” For example, it is found in the American drug Cialis and many illegal Indian generics sold online, as reported by Karaulov in Moment of Truth.
It is said that Rospotrebnadzor only paid attention to the listed dietary supplements after the SRO NPO BAA applied. Panda explains that this interest in a self-regulatory organization is because it was created with the participation of competitors – Evalar and Pfizer. It is also noted that no checks were made on other participants in the bioadditives market. The Evalar company did not respond to Veka’s request.
In March, the founder of Tescom Pharma, Evgeny Fishter, mentioned in an interview that the SRO became more active in 2015 when Western manufacturers of dietary supplements became part of the founders. Dmitry Dergachev believes that his company is being pushed out of the market, claiming that they are being targeted for destruction by the main competitor, Evalar. He says they were pressured to clear the market together or be destroyed, but they refused to agree to this proposal.
Apparently, there is something to share. According to Leonid Maryanovsky, the size of the dietary supplements market for men is about 5 billion rubles a year. Moreover, there have been no complaints about the effect of these drugs over the 10 years of their presence on the market, Karaulov noted in his program. Timur Nigmatullin, an analyst at Finam, previously stated that despite the negative economic situation, the market for dietary supplements and vitamins in Russia is attractive for investment, especially for erectile dysfunction drugs and dietary supplements.
St. Petersburg manufacturers of dietary supplements remind: Evalar, apparently, has good positions in the authorities – the already mentioned State Duma deputy, the son of the main owner of the company, Mr. Prokopiev. “Prokopiev, pursuing his own business interests, completely ignoring the problems of citizens and residents of the region, is trying to get the status of a State Duma deputy again,” said Andrey Nagaytsev, a compatriot of the deputy, ex-candidate for the mayor of Biysk (the main production of the pharmaceutical company is located there).
What kind of patriotism and decency can we talk about if the parliamentarian, according to rumors, is not only involved in this war of dietary supplements, but also seems to be practically clearing the Russian market for American pharmaceutical giants – Pfizer and Eli Lilly? After all, according to the president of RIA Panda, the St. Petersburg company has been subjected to constant attacks by various inspection bodies without objective reasons for already seven years! “For 15-20 years, the whole system accustomed pharmacies to more expensive Western products, first cheap analgin, naphthyzinum, cough tablets and other penny drugs disappeared,” says Dergachev. – For some reason, in the United States, where the problem of falsification of dietary supplements also exists, no one can afford such legal chaos. It is impossible to kill us according to the law, but because of lawlessness they can finish us off.”
All these attacks on domestic producers look all the more strange because, in the face of sanctions and the economic crisis, the Russian authorities have embarked on import substitution. Squeezing the native company out of the market means cutting taxes, cutting jobs, and replacing affordable Russian drugs with expensive imported ones (perhaps of dubious quality). American corporations (and, it seems, not only American ones) seem to be attacking domestic manufacturers in a takeover scheme popular back in the 90s.
