On the eve of the Bioprom forum, the head of Rostec spoke about the developments of the State Corporation in the field of environmental safety and health
The creation of new medicines and medical equipment, the development of biotechnologies capable of providing us with a safe, clean living environment are just a few of the topics to be discussed at the first International Forum "Bioprom", which opens today in Gelendzhik. The main topic is the creation of high—tech products to improve the quality of people's lives. Many know-how can be seen directly on the forum site. How is the production of medical equipment and medicines developing, what needs to be done to stop depending on foreign suppliers, what important developments have appeared in recent years? Sergey Chemezov, General Director of Rostec State Corporation, answered the questions of RG on the eve of the forum.
We know Rostec as the largest company that accumulates a wide variety of areas: defense, transport, aircraft manufacturing, electronics, and new materials. In recent years, the medical field has been actively developing: medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, vaccines. What is the reason for this? And how did the sanctions affect it?
Sergey Chemezov: Our key mission is to create high—tech products to improve the quality of people's lives. Therefore, we do a lot for people's health and healthcare.
The sanctions have greatly affected our lives and work. Therefore, we are doing everything possible to ensure Russia's technological sovereignty: we are bridging the gaps that have arisen after the departure of foreign companies, creating domestic analogues and replacing products needed by the state, various sectors of the economy and, of course, our citizens.
As you know, the sanctions have affected medicine, pharmaceuticals, the food sector, and the environment, that is, those areas that are important for maintaining human health and increasing life expectancy.
Let me remind you that in May of this year, the Decree of the President of Russia on the national development goals of the country set new targets: by 2030, the expected average life expectancy should reach 78 years, and by 2036 — 81 years. To accomplish this task, a set of measures is needed, including the development of health care and the formation of ecological balance. Accordingly, at Bioprom we present our achievements in the fields of medical instrumentation, pharmaceutical production, as well as environmental projects.
Conservation of nature is a priority all over the world today. If there is no healthy habitat, there will be no health. What projects does Rostec represent in this area?
Sergey Chemezov: We were one of the first industrial companies to move from discussions to business. On the roads of Moscow, as well as in Kursk, Perm, Volgograd, Lipetsk and many other Russian cities, you can see economical and environmentally friendly electric buses of our KAMAZ. There are almost two thousand of them in Moscow alone, and this directly affects the state of the atmosphere in the city.
Now, in partnership with private investors, a project is underway to create a passenger "electric car". According to the plan, serial production of this machine will start in the middle of next year. There is a lot of interest in the new product — more than 100 thousand pre-orders have already been collected.
AvtoVAZ has also started industrial production of an electric car — since the end of September, the LADA e-Largus has been produced, and the electric version of the Lada Aura flagship sedan is being tested.
That is, it is obvious that internal combustion engines are slowly but inexorably becoming a thing of the past. They are being replaced by electric-powered vehicles, which are more efficient and less harmful to the environment.
When it comes to nature conservation, one of the most pressing problems is what to do with landfills, how to dispose of municipal waste. What are the plans in this direction?
Sergey Chemezov: Perhaps this is the most urgent environmental problem of our time. Since 2018, our company RT-Invest has become the largest investor in the waste management industry in the Moscow region and Tatarstan. Over five years, we have invested more than 220 billion rubles, built and launched four large waste recycling complexes with a capacity of 3.3 million tons of waste per year. We have opened the largest network of fandomats for receiving secondary resources.
We are currently continuing to build five waste energy recycling plants (four in the Moscow Region and one in Kazan). The launch of these facilities will allow for the annual conversion of more than 3 million tons of waste into electric energy. We believe that as a result, this will help to reduce waste disposal in the Moscow region by 50% and achieve "zero burial" in Kazan.
These are the first plants in our country that meet all Russian and international environmental requirements.
By the way, we are presenting the project for the construction of waste energy recycling plants at the forum. And another interesting project that we are showing at Bioprom is the biotechnology of water purification and disinfection, which allows us to get away from the traditional chlorination system at water treatment plants.
All developed countries are leaving or have already left the chlorination of drinking water — it is the chlorine residues that are increasingly being called one of the reasons for the surge in cancer. What alternative do you suggest?
Sergey Chemezov: The problem of clean drinking water is acute. Chlorine disinfects well, but has long-term health effects. At the same time, according to WHO, 80% of all infectious diseases on the planet are the result of drinking low—quality water.
Our Ural Research Chemical Institute has created an alternative technology — water is purified with chlorine dioxide and chlorine to oxidize impurities and destroy microorganisms. The main advantage of this technology is a drastic reduction in the content of harmful organochlorine compounds in purified water, and an additional plus is the minimization of corrosion and deposits in pipes.
This technology is one of the most advanced in Russia. It has already been implemented in 40 cities at 49 sites, including in the Moscow, Sverdlovsk, Rostov regions, as well as in Kazakhstan.
Of course, this experience requires further scaling. However, I will not say that this innovation is progressing easily. In some regions, they do not want to change anything and there is a real "chlorine lobby" that our specialists face.
An equally important topic is healthcare and medicine. For many years now, the task of import substitution has been in the pharmaceutical industry and in the production of medical devices, and we are talking about switching to a full cycle in the production of medicines (so as not to depend even on the supply of pharmaceutical substances), as well as creating our own medical technologies and products. But we know that modern medical equipment is very difficult and very expensive. What has been done?
Sergey Chemezov: At the forum, we present two expositions at once: in one we demonstrate medical devices, in the other — novelties in the field of pharmaceutical production from our holding "Natsibio".
Currently, our portfolio already includes about 150 registered products for various areas of medicine from our companies.
We have formed a program for the development of medical instrumentation until 2030. It is planned to invest more than 10 billion rubles in it — these are the funds of our enterprises and attracted financing, including money from development institutions.
The Corporation has created a single competence center that consolidates functions in the field of marketing, development, production, promotion, sales and service of medical devices and products.
The goal is to quadruple the presence of our manufacturers in the medical equipment market. One of the projects to create the production of a wide range of completely new medical devices will start before the end of the year in the Kaluga region. I'm not ready to divulge the details yet, but as soon as we have the opportunity, we will definitely tell you about it.
But it is still interesting to learn about specific developments that patients and doctors are already using.
Sergey Chemezov: I can tell you about the project "Personal medical assistants", in which our holding "Roselektronika" participates. In my opinion, this is one of the most promising domestic healthcare projects. It is convenient for both doctors and the public, because it allows them to interact remotely, without frequent trips of patients to the clinic.
Let me remind you that the platform provides remote monitoring of the health status of people with chronic diseases — cardiovascular, diabetes. In the near future, a special category of patients — pregnant women - will also begin to be connected to it.
Today, more than 20 thousand patients participate in the pilot project. By 2030, remote monitoring with the help of personal medical assistants should cover more than 28 million people. Next year, together with the medical and scientific community, the development of uniform standards for this system will be completed.
There is a popular opinion that the domestic medical industry acts as a catch-up and cannot compete with well-known foreign players. Until now, the lion's share of complex diagnostic equipment or, say, equipment for complex operations is imported. What can be done here?
Sergey Chemezov: Perhaps this opinion is partly true. But it cannot be denied that many of our enterprises are carriers of unique scientific and technological competencies.
For example, our partner, NtechLab, a leader in video analytics using artificial intelligence technologies, has taught AI to diagnose hemorrhagic stroke. The accuracy of detection on CT images is the highest. At the same time, the time for analyzing CT images was reduced by four times: from 20 minutes to five, which is critically important for both doctors and patients. This development has been tested at the Center for Diagnostics and Telemedicine, received a registration certificate and is now being implemented in Russian clinics.
We also brought several unique polymer materials to the forum. This is another important area of our development. Such polymers can be used, for example, for fast and targeted drug delivery or for performing ophthalmic operations.
In Russia, these innovative materials are produced by the only manufacturer — our Research Institute of Polymers named after Academician Kargin. By the way, this is a worthy replacement for imported materials that our clinics have been using for many years and so far continue to purchase by inertia. We are ready to completely replace these products, we have all the possibilities for this.
Our scientists often complain: we have a lot of unique finds in the laboratory — new candidate drugs, vaccines, medical technologies. But when it comes to scaling, mass production, and routine implementation, this is almost always a "bottleneck". Do you know how to solve this problem?
Sergey Chemezov: National projects, government programs and various government support measures are the driver of healthcare development. It's all working.
Our enterprises actively use the opportunities provided by the state for development, stimulating the creation of new medical devices. However, you are right, there are difficulties along the way.
For example, the three-year deadline for the return of public investments is unrealistic for most projects to create new high-tech medical products. The cycle of development, testing, registration and organization of production of complex equipment takes at least five years, more often — more. That is, the project has not been completed yet, the product has not entered the market, and the money already needs to be returned. I suggest that we carefully analyze the current practice and make the necessary adjustments.
Difficulties also arise in the recognition of the Russian origin of medical devices. You know that such confirmation gives domestic producers preferences in the public procurement market. And this is correct when domestic products are purchased with budgetary funds, and not foreign ones: it is necessary to support our own.
However, a new difficulty arises here: imported components are often used in Russian equipment. This is because many critical components have not yet been created or manufactured in Russia, as import substitution processes have not yet been completed. When examining medical devices, it is important to take this fact into account and clearly distinguish where foreign components are used reasonably and where they are not.
If a domestic manufacturer had no other choice, this should not become an additional barrier for him. Otherwise, it will lose the competition to producers from the EAEU. After all, their products are evaluated according to other, more sparing principles, taking into account the ad valorem share of foreign components in the device.
I believe that within the framework of the forum it is possible to discuss current problems and work out joint solutions. I would like to emphasize that the industry is actively involved in solving all the tasks set by the state.
