ArmInfo.The Ministry of Health of Armenia signed an important agreement with the American pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences on the importation, sale and supply of drugs against hepatitis C and to maintain the health of patients with viral hepatitis B.As a Russian businessman involved in the pharmaceutical business told ArmInfo, Arthur Osipyan, who was present at the signing of the document, did not succeed in registering the drugs under the former government, all letters remained unanswered.
Perhaps, according to the expert, someone previously <monopoly sitting on the interferon business in Armenia and was not interested in importing other effective drugs. He said that he didn't expect such a prompt reaction from Gilead's proposal from the new Minister of Health of the country, and was amazed at how seriously and responsibly Arsen Torosyan approached the solution of this urgent problem for the country's health.According to Osipyan, about 70 thousand patients with hepatitis of various degrees live in Armenia according to statistics, and over 200 thousand are those who are prone to this disease or are its undetected carriers. "Interferon, which in the CIS countries is trying to put patients on their feet, is far from effective and has many side effects, and Gilead products and their inexpensive counterparts are in high demand in the West and are considered the latest achievement in pharmaceutical science," Osipyan said.
According to him, Armenia is the first country in the CIS that resolved this issue.As the pharmacologist said, despite the fact that American drugs are very expensive, their counterparts, manufactured under license in other countries, in the same India, are much cheaper and will be more or less available to Armenian citizens. The Ministry of Health of Armenia intends to purchase a certain amount of these drugs at the expense of the state order for the socially unprotected category of citizens.Note that Gilead Sciences - one of the leaders of the US pharmaceutical industry, is the developer of a line of antiviral drugs. The company's stock is successfully listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).