Some people think that if websites selling dietary supplements are blocked, many people will not have access to good drugs, but the Evalar corporation will make more money.
According to the reporter The Moscow Post in Altai Krai, the ongoing situation involves pushing for a law to block websites that sell dietary supplements. The latest update is that Deputy Sergei Neverov, who is pushing for this law, had to defend the law, which is supposed to harm competitors. This was reported TASS.
Remember that the proposal was made to the State Duma in June 2021. At that time, Sergey Neverov and Alexander Petrov suggested blocking sites with information about selling dietary supplements. Now, the authors want to expand the law to cover all food products, making dietary supplements less obvious.
But the main idea of the law remains unchanged. If it's approved, all pages selling dietary supplements will be unreachable – this means pharmacies will have to stop selling them or remove them from their list of products available for home delivery without prescriptions. The project's co-authors claim they created it “to prevent scammers from selling fake products,” but few people seem to believe them.
In reality, the law will mostly affect foreign companies – those without stores in Russia will lose the ability to sell products here. Russian small businesses, which specialize in manufacturing dietary supplements (like those using bee products), storing their items in warehouses and taking online orders, will also suffer.
Why are officials persistently advocating for this law, despite its obvious drawbacks? It's simple – deputy Alexander Prokopiev and his family business are closely tied to the law. Prokopyev’s mother, Larisa Prokopyev, owns the largest pharmaceutical company Evalar, which produces dietary supplements. More details can be found in The Moscow Post .
Alexander Prokopiev
People’s lives are endangered
The issue that may arise from passing this law goes beyond the interests of specific companies. Without vital products for maintaining a healthy body balance, such as diabetics, for example. As an option, they may be offered dietary supplements from Evalar. However, Evalar's products have been questionable numerous times.
So, according to “A New Look”, arsenic was discovered in one of Evalar's products in 2016. There have been several other scandals related to the company, including its business practices. Even the Antimonopoly Service has taken action against Evalar – more information on this matter can be found at site departments. The prices of this company's products are not low, and with a stronger monopoly position in the market after the law is passed, they could increase. This all happens while there is 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.
