Orion Pharma

Business in Russia

2023: Loss of €25m due to withdrawal from Russia

Orion Pharma lost €25 million due to leaving Russia. The Finnish pharmaceutical company announced this in its financial statements published in July 2023.

The total impact of items related to Russia on our operating profit in January-June 2023 amounted to 25 million euros compared to January-June 2022. Lower sales volumes and lower prices for Simdax and dexmedetomidine products for human use, as well as clearly lower sales of entacapone products also had a significant negative impact, the manufacturer said.

The data Roszdravnadzor indicate a noticeable reduction in the introduction of Orion Pharma drugs into circulation (48 episodes in 2022 against 78 episodes in 2021 and 87 in 2022), writes Pharmvestnik. Since May 2022, the pharmaceutical company has not supplied Russia the drug Divigel (estradiol), used for hormone replacement therapy.

Orion Pharma is the main manufacturer of Metipreda (methylprednisolone, a hormonal anti-inflammatory drug), which is included in the list of vital drugs.

Nikolai Bespalov, Development Director of the analytical company RNC Pharma, in a conversation with Izvestia on July 18, 2023, noted that Orion Pharma's departure from the Russian market should not be perceived as a "global loss," because the company in the Russian Federation had a limited range of preparations. According to the expert, recently drugs have been supplied for those positions in which Orion Pharma is an absolute monopolist, or for positions in which the company occupies a significant share in total sales. So, there are only three such drugs from the portfolio of the Finnish company: regidron, estradiol and methylprednisolone.

If they just close their representative offices and continue deliveries, then we will go through this process very painlessly. But, of course, you need to rely on the replacement of these drugs from Orion Pharma from analogues of Russian production or production of other countries in order to provide all those in need of this product with the necessary volume of the drug, - concluded Bespalov.[1]

Notes