Experts of the press-service of the Moscow center of economic policy and property and land relations told about the size of exports of pharmaceutical products for the first three quarters of 2020. According to the results of the period, the total share of drugs and medical products, which the capital's manufacturers sent abroad, increased by more than 36% compared to the nine months of 2019. In monetary terms, this amounted to more than 227 million U.S. dollars.

More accurate figures sounded in the report of Vladimir Efimov (Sergei Sobyanin's deputy for economic policy and land and property relations), heard at the International Expert Forum "Made in Russia". The official noted that the total volume of exports of the capital's pharmaceutical manufacturers in January-September 2020 showed a good positive trend - by 36.1% (or $227.46 million) more than in the same period of 2019. The maximum growth was seen in the sale of packaged drugs sent abroad - 67.1%. Vladimir Efimov also mentioned that this group of goods accounts for 60% of all Moscow exports of pharmaceutical products.

According to the data, provided by the official, the total exports of this group of goods in terms of money amounts to $139.42 million. The main buyer is Uzbekistan - it was sold packaged drugs in the amount of 23.49 million dollars.

Analyzing the volume and structure of the capital's exports of pharmaceutical products, employees of the center of support and development of export "Mosprom" noted that the maximum sales dynamics abroad for 9 months of 2020 showed antibiotics. Moscow pharmaceutical companies sold them almost 10 times more than in the same period of 2019. Among the main buyers are such states as:

- Kazakhstan;

- Singapore;

- Belarus.

In addition, more than 1/3 (by 34.3%) increased the volume of foreign sales of immunological drugs intended for sale in retail pharmacy chains. For the period January-September 2020 it amounted to 10,68 million dollars in money equivalent.

Employees of the press service of the Moscow Center for Economic Policy and Property and Land Relations note that the geographical structure of the capital's exports of medical products is primarily represented by neighboring states:

- In the three quarters of 2020, Uzbekistan purchased pharmaceutical products from Muscovites for $31.78 million;

- Belarus - 29,93 million;

- Kazakhstan - by 23,81 million;

- Ukraine - 19.98 million.

Pharmaceutical producers of Moscow also actively sold products to two states of the African continent:

- Nigeria (for $15.23 million);

- Congo (by 7.69 million dollars).

The total number of foreign customers, who exported their products from Moscow pharmaceutical companies during 9 months of 2020 - 93 countries.

Alexander Prokhorov, the head of the capital department of investment and industrial policy, notes that the products of the Moscow pharmaceutical plants are becoming more popular and in demand on the international market every year. For example, the export volume of the Moscow Endocrine Plant in 2019 was 2.9% in the total sales of products, and in 2020, the figure has increased more than 2 times - up to 6.2%. To date, the company has contracts for the supply of medicines with 18 countries.

Recall that the Moscow Endocrine Plant is the largest pharmaceutical company in the capital. It was founded in the spring of 1943 on the basis of meat factory of A.I. Mikoyan. During the Great Patriotic War the plant supplied to the front and rear vital medicines: insulin, thyreoidin and others. Since the 1990s, the plant has been actively developing the production of its own painkillers and other pharmaceutical products.

Despite the fact that the Moscow Endocrine Plant was founded in the first half of the last century, it has kept up with the times. In 2016, the company launched a large-scale program to master the production of new types of products. Investments in this project amounted to more than 2 billion rubles.

As part of the aforementioned program, two workshops of the plant were reconstructed and re-equipped with a total area of more than 3,000 square meters. It took several years: the process of modernization of the first workshop was completed in 2019, and the second workshop - in 2020.

The first workshop specializes in the production of transdermal therapeutic systems (patches) and transmucosal films (applied to the oral mucosa). It was commissioned in May 2019. The reconstruction cost the plant management 140.3 million rubles.

The second workshop implements the technological process for the production of lyophilized and liquid injectable drugs (eye drops). Much more - 1.2 billion rubles - was spent on its modernization. The facility was commissioned in January 2020.

The Moscow Endocrine Plant has two branches: Pochep and Lefortovsky. Reconstruction and modernization works are currently underway at the second unit located on Entuziastov Highway (Moscow). According to the plan, they will be completed by January 2022. The renewed workshops of the Lefortovo branch will produce

- more than 1 billion solid dosage forms (tablets, capsules);

- about 60 million preparations in glass ampoules;

- 33 million transdermal therapeutic systems;

- 10 million units of lyophilized drugs and non-sterile spray solutions;

- 3 million units of emulsion sterile solutions (vials and ampoules).

The Pochep branch (located in the Bryansk region) is creating production facilities for manufacturing active pharmaceutical substances from raw materials of animal and plant origin, substances obtained by chemical and biotechnological synthesis methods, as well as medical devices. For example, during the covid pandemic, they started making medical masks here.