Money for antibodies
The Ministry of Industry and Trade will come to the aid of the Russian pharmaceutical industry by distributing budget money to major companies. Yesterday the ministry proposed subsidies to Biokad for developing drugs on the basis of monoclonal antibodies, which are effective in cancer treatment. The total cost of the project is about 600 million roubles, said Biokad CEO Dmitry Morozov, and the government is prepared to shell out 145 million. However, creating conditions for the development of the industry as a whole would be a much more effective approach. The faulty price regulation of critical drugs often forces companies to reduce their range of products or operate at a loss, which is compounded by cumbersome export procedures and the lack of tough quality standards. And this is only the beginning of the problems major Russian pharmaceuticals face.
Mutually beneficial
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has drawn a line under the dispute between RZhD President Vladimir Yakunin and Transport Minister Igor Levitin on the Second Cargo Company (VGK) by allowing the planned creation of the company to go ahead as planned. The Second VGK was to be created as part of the reform of Russian Railways (RZhD). The monopoly has long had a 100% subsidiary, the First Cargo Company, to which it had transferred part of its freight cars. VGK was to be formed along the same lines. However, the Transport Ministry feared that during the crisis, this would have an adverse impact on the carriage market because independent transport companies are facing problems as it is. "These are imagined fears that may simply be human reactions or may be a conscious attempt to slow down the reform," Interfax quoted Yakunin. During a meeting with Putin in Sochi, it was determined that VGK will be created as a 100% company-owned subsidiary of RZhD. However, the Transport Ministry eventually got what it wanted: Yakunin did not rule out that the monopoly would eventually relinquish its controlling stake in VGK. So, along with making a concession to the opponent, RZhD can make some money by selling its subsidiary's shares.