World meat industry news

At the moment, there is no shortage of drugs for veterinary use, head of Rosselkhoznadzor Sergei Dankvert told reporters.

“With regard to chemical and pharmaceutical drugs, Rosselkhoznadzor does not receive information about problems with the supply of drugs for livestock farming. Questions arise only with the supply of single types of veterinary drugs for the treatment of certain diseases of small domestic animals in connection with the decision of certain foreign manufacturers of animal medicines to leave the Russian market,” the head of the department emphasized.

In January–November 2023, domestic and foreign drug manufacturers introduced 36,409.4 million doses into civil circulation on the territory of the Russian Federation (of which 18,399.5 million doses were imported and 18,009.9 million doses were domestic). This is 93% of the 2022 volume and 14% higher than the volume of vaccines introduced into circulation in 2021.

It should be noted that in 2022, the import of foreign vaccines exceeded the import volumes for 2021 by 30%, which is obviously due to the formation of certain reserves and the preparation of foreign manufacturers for changes in Russian legislation regarding the establishment of a procedure for introducing them into civil circulation, noted Sergei Dankvert.

Domestic vaccine production increased by 37.4% compared to 2021. At the same time, the production volumes of Russian vaccines and the dynamics of the import of foreign ones in 2023 indicate the creation of the necessary reserves in the short term - until the middle of next year.

Additionally, measures are being taken to ensure the biological safety of imported vaccines. Thus, to minimize the biological threats associated with the use of foreign live vaccines, in 2022 Rosselkhoznadzor began to conduct studies of drugs in circulation for the presence of foreign infectious agents using PCR screening testing.

The shift in consumer demand from imported products to domestic ones with the inevitable decrease in stocks of foreign drugs will force Russian manufacturers to increase production volumes of medicines, the head of Rosselkhoznadzor is sure.

However, the supply of imported drugs cannot be allowed to decrease. Within the framework of the current legislation, it is allowed to import into the Russian Federation a specific batch of registered medicinal products intended for conducting clinical trials of medicinal products on the basis of a permit issued by Rosselkhoznadzor. “When this mechanism is implemented, the imported batch of poultry vaccine will be used to immunize the poultry population of a specific poultry farm,” explained Sergei Dankvert.

While domestic manufacturers are increasing production capacity, it is necessary to diversify the market. “We have new players, such as the Chinese company Ebio with a line of vaccines for birds, Technovax from South America with vaccines for cattle. Of course, additional time will be required to register them and bring them to the market, however, in the long term this will be a more productive partnership than dependence on supplies from unfriendly countries,” concluded the head of Rosselkhoznadzor.