How dummy drugs took over the Russian market

There is a big mystery in the fact that fraudsters feel great everywhere, even in a society where half of the country's population lives in poverty. At the same time, many of them parasitize the weak, semi-educated, selling them hope for three kopecks. The extent changes perceptions. Deceive 10, 50, 100 people and you are a fraudster, deceive millions - you are already a businessman who is prevented from living and doing business only by journalists and bloggers.

Dummy drugs that have no right to be called drugs and do not treat anything at all are not officially considered fraud in Russia. Indeed, there could be some reasons why clinical trials did not prove the effectiveness of the drug or they were not conducted at all. Who are these scientists and pharmacists that restrict the freedom of choice of patients?! Faith works wonders, the main thing is the desire to heal. Perhaps this is why pharmacies are not unlimited in all natural limitations in the assortment- fuflomycins are actively purchased and sold.

Doctor Myasnikov is the only "Don Quixote" of the Russian drug market, who updates the full list of existing fuflomycins on his website every year and has a service - "check the drug". Anyway, he frankly admits that his list of more than 100 drugs does not include everything*. Immunomodulators, hepatoprotectors, enzymes, vasoconstrictors, vitamins and biologically active additives, chondroprotectors, probiotics, prebiotics, nootropics, homeopathic medicines, herbal preparations and tinctures are included in a wide list of pseudo-medicines.

If we were talking about fake vodka, it would be expected to learn about a " small factory made with ease" - a tank with alcohol, and a small line for bottling, but dummy drugs are produced on professional lines by professional pharmacy in any quantities. For example, fuflomycins №1 and №3 in the market of antiviral drugs – Arbidol and Kagocel. The first drug belongs to JSC “Pharmstandard”, which has 14 more brands and no more "dummies", and Kagocel was made at “Nearmedic Plus”, which produces test systems and service equipment for medical laboratories. That is, within a single business, fuflomycins are produced on a par with professional solutions that you can really rely on.

How is this even possible?! How can a professional product be produced in parallel with an out-and-out fraud?! Doctors in business are cynical people and refuse to bear irrevocable costs. The funds for research should be "made back". And if the drug is not "slightly" finalized, but will be successful - how can you refuse a chicken that lays golden eggs? In fact, it has always been a tradition in pharmacy to sell something- with special cynicism under the guise of a panacea- that destroys the body or mental health of people who trust the brand and reputation. It’s enough to recall the Bayer Group, which created heroin and sold drugs on its basis for flu, tuberculosis, asthma, heart and gastrointestinal diseases in multiple sclerosis. They started with a ton of pure heroin and reached the production of 25-30 tons per year, delivered to more than 20 countries around the world. And the company's management was absolutely not stopped by the information that the new drug is addictive like morphine. The cynicism was off the scale - children's drugs were created on the basis of heroin! It was only after World War II, 50-60 years later, that heroin-based drugs were gradually banned from sale.

So what? Today, the Bayer Group is still a world leader in the pharmaceutical industry, and neither heroin nor Zyklon B’s — a compound created by order of the Reich leadership for killing in the gas chambers of concentration camps— reputation or sales of the vile business was disrupted.

I suggest using the example of Arbidol and Kagocel to see how the way to the shelves of pharmacies and in the wallets of Russians is paved for "dummies".

Kagocel’s way

Kagocel is №3 in fuflomycin sales. Information about the drug just clogs the internet. An article about the pseudo-medicine was able to penetrate such a serious internet resource as Wikipedia, where it is called a "Russian medicinal product created at N.F. Gamaleya Scientific Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, RAMS". But then a surprise waited for the producers, who happily rubbed their hands after successfully posting the article- moderators conducted their own investigation and refined the information.

According to the results, they warn the readers that "according to the representatives of the Formulary Committee of RAMS and the Society For Evidence Based Medicine (RUS OСДМ; OSDM), the effectiveness of the drug has not been proven" with corresponding links as well, that the drug has not passed full clinical trials.

Clinical trials of Kagocel were conducted, these were so-called "randomized blind placebo-controlled multicenter studies of the therapeutic efficacy of the drug". 1,100 people participated. But everything was done to distort the results, which clearly did not suit the manufacturers at the stage of creating the pseudo-medicine:

• Violation of the research methodology when selecting respondents- military personnel and persons with mental illnesses were involved;
• Insufficient sampling to obtain reliable results, for example, small groups of children (only three groups of 50-60 people);

You should especially pay attention to the risk of the negative side effects of taking the drug. The basis of Kagocel- Gossypol - is toxic in free form. It can inhibit spermatogenesis and has even been studied in clinical studies as a male contraceptive. Studies have shown that in about 20% of cases, the effect of gossypol on spermatogenesis is irreversible, which suggests its use only by those men "who allow irreversible infertility". Therefore, in 1998, WHO, after reviewing the results of the research on gossypol, concluded that the risk from its use exceeds the benefit, and its use in its pure form as a contraceptive was prohibited. Kagocel manufacturers claim that gossypol in their drug "undergoes chemical modification and it strongly binds to cellulose polymer molecules by covalent bonds". Thus, the gossypol in the drug is immobilized, which leads to a "significant reduction in its toxicity". That is, even the manufacturers themselves are not ready to claim that the toxicity of the drug is eliminated by 100%. And if you remember with what disorders clinical studies were carried out …

After receiving the results of the examination, which did not confirm the therapeutic effect of the drug, no changes were introduced. The drug began to be promoted, and it sold very well – the annual volume of purchases is in the region of 2-3 billion rubles. The question arises: where did this stunning success come from?

First step - widespread availability.

Almost immediately after its creation, Kagocel received the status of an over-the-counter drug. Its popularity in comparison with effective analogues is associated with a lower price.

Second step - lobbying.

Several successful steps made by the manufacturer made the drug №3 in sales in Russia. Despite its status as "far from a drug", Kagocel is included in the "List of vital and essential drugs" from year to year. Thus, it automatically enters the public procurement market, it is recommended by doctors by default, and is purchased en masse by pharmacy chains.

It would seem that why not stop at the achieved result, but we must pay tribute to the manufacturer's entrepreneurship – Chubais himself is caught in the set net, he probably burns with a passion to protect the health of Russians. The drug is becoming the "pride of RUSNANO" -no more no less, and that of Mr. Chubais personally. Initially , more than 1.2 billion rubles was invested in the creation of an additional "factory" of 22 thousand square meters. And then Chubais, like a lion, personally threw himself into a discussion with Navalny about the fact that "everyone is lying", and that Kagocel has passed clinical trials and is recognized in the West. However, the second round of discussion with Navalny did not take place after his team carefully analyzed the data provided by Mr. Chubais. It turns out, he just can't read English, so his unscrupulous partners deceived him – "fed with bogus information". My, my, such bad people- they deceived a "simple and honest" head of a company at the federal level with the budget of several regions.

The next step to the top is hiring / bribing the married couple: Khristenko-Golikova, the Minister of Economy and the Minister of Health. The couple turned out to have a very expensive hobby- they like to spend money in casinos and boutiques of world brands. And here, to earn, you just need to advertise the medicine once before the President, and a couple of times pass your weighty word vertically.

Or maybe everyone is lying? Just that two "Russian statesmen" do not understand anything about medicine. So they trusted the Doctor of sciences and took his word that his drug is the best in the market. No, here is an information about a sudden twofold increase in the couple's income during the period of lobbying for the drug.

And, finally, the height of cynicism is the destruction of spermatogenesis in the healthiest part of the male population- the purchase of Kagocel for the special services and the army. Rosgvardiya (National Guard of Russia), Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Defense and the FSB - over the past three years, bought about 120 thousand packages for about 25-26 million rubles.

And everyone got away with it. Government officials- incompetence and corruption, manufacturers- cynicism in especially large sizes and bribery of lobbyists. Journalists are looking for corruption scandals, and here for almost a decade, government officials and manufacturers have been quietly and peacefully "interacting" to mutual benefit. Checkmating our legislation and the work of law enforcement agencies.

Third step.

"You can't put all your eggs in one basket." The manufacturer's management understands this and relies not only on government officials, but also on its own marketing service, and apparently spares no money for the advertising budget and orders promotion from the best agencies in the market. It is for a reason that a number of Russian awards in the field of marketing and advertising were received for the active promotion of the drug in the market. For example, Kagocel was named the 2011 brand of the year by EFFIE, №1 brand by sales according to the "National Pharmaceutical Rating- 2019", etc. The management is ready to fight for the brand in the virtual space and will pursue anyone who calls Kagocel a "non medicine" and publicly expresses doubt about the effectiveness of the drug.

Arbidol’s case

The first dummy drug appeared before the perestroika period in 1974. But it was possible to bring a drug to the market without clinical research only during the "mess" and corruption that was going on right before the collapse of the USSR.

The drug is not effective from the point of view of evidence-based medicine, it is not in the WHO recommendations for the treatment of flu, Arbidol is not approved by the FDA for sale in the United States. Moreover, RAMS made repeated attempts to remove Arbidol from the list of essential drugs, but under the protection of "Madam Arbidol" - Golikova, the drug survived all the attacks and only a decrease in interest from the Khristenko-Golikova family led to a sharp drop in the drug in recent years.

Arbidol's success is somewhat similar to Kagocel's, but the story is much less straightforward and much more murky.

Before 2001, Arbidol was cheap and available due to its over-the-counter status. Then they changed the packaging of the drug, sharply increased the price from 25 to 120 rubles and started active marketing promotion (TV and Internet).

2002-2003- widespread free distribution of the drug to pharmacists prior to flu epidemics. It is believed that aggressive advertising from experts led to a three-fold increase in sales.

Later, pure marketing ended and a period of using lobbyist officials began.

In 2004, Arbidol was patented as a remedy for SARS. In 2005, by order of the Ministry of Health, it was included in the minimum assortment of pharmacies (the drug was included in 22,000 pharmacies and 40,000 pharmacy outlets throughout Russia).

In 2006, due to the introduction of the drug to the market in China and other countries for the treatment of influenza in humans and the prevention of colds in poultry, the sales of the drug increased by 10 times.

In 2008, “Madam Arbidol” and her husband, Mr. Khristenko, joined the sales process in Russia. While Mr. Khristenko's cousin, Viktor Kharitonin, became the General Director of Pharmstandard manufacturing company. Under the control of the ministers and relatives, the drug was included in the "List of vital and essential drugs" and the sales in Russia increased to 2.5 billion rubles. From 2009 to 2012, Arbidol was sold for an average of 4.5 billion rubles.

The drop in sales is clearly connected with the activities of the chief lobbyist. After "Madam Arbidol" became "Madam Kagocel" - from 2013 to 2019, sales fell almost 3 times to 1.4 billion rubles.

Today, the drug is absolutely cynically positioned as a remedy for coronavirus, while real drugs for its treatment have not yet been found. Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) are preparing requests to the manufacturer and other organizations to assess the reliability of this advertising

In accordance with European and American medical standards and legislation, such drugs cannot be used in medical practice and simply can not enter the market. But in Russia, the enterprising manufacturers of fuflomycins will succeed unless greedy government officials, easier to get than prostitutes, are moved. Therefore, such drugs will be on the list of vital ones and will always find their place in public procurement tenders and on the shelves of pharmacies.

Government officials are well aware that allowing dummy products to enter the market is just as effective at killing the population as our government's economic decisions are at killing Russia's revenue and future. And many doctors, especially young ones, blindly recommend the drugs pushed by the corrupt officials.

Therefore, if you are not sure of a doctor's qualifications, check the information about the medications that he prescribes in open sources. The same Wikipedia with their incorruptible approach will help you. Remember that the pharmacists to whom you go to consult before reaching the doctor are not always familiar with the drugs they recommend to you.

In short, beware and do not buy fuflomycin!

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