Russian pharma company to get Euro loan
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is planning to lend €15m to NPO Petrovax Pharm. The Russian niche pharmaceutical company wants to build a green field plant near Moscow to make new generation influenza vaccines for the markets of the former Soviet bloc.
The bank would cover the entire costs of the project, which would see Petrovax collaborating with international player Solvay. Petrovax would own the plant, being provided with technical and management support by Solvay.
According to a memorandum from the EBRD: 'It [the project] is unique as it combines the achievements of Russian and western scientific research and it promotes local production of a new drug in an important pharmacological area.'
The bank added that the project would boost a Russian pharmaceutical industry 'which is lagging behind eastern and western Europe and is dominated by old generation, poor quality medicine'. It would also 'promote competition in the generics-dominated domestic pharma market.'