Production of the popular antiseptics Miramistin and Ocomistin has been suspended in Russia. According to the lawyer representing the owners of Infamed, this halt is a result of a corporate conflict with intermediaries accused of fraudulently acquiring a business stake at a significantly undervalued price. Experts are warning of a potential shortage of these medications in the market.
The suspension of production is attributed to restrictive measures imposed against the company, impacting all 164 of Infamed`s medical representatives.
Ruben Markaryan, the lawyer for Infamed`s owners, stated that the dispute arose from the actions of Pavel and Oksana Kheyfitsev. They allegedly offered intermediary services for the sale of Infamed but instead coerced the owner into a fictitious deal, acquiring 50% of the company`s shares for 7.5 million rubles, despite their true value exceeding 1 billion rubles. A fraud complaint against the Kheyfitsevs has been filed with the Main Directorate for Economic Security of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Nikolay Bespalov, Director of Development at RNC Pharma, an analytical company, expressed concerns regarding the market impact. He noted that while Miramistin has several analogues, such as Chlorhexidine and products from other manufacturers like Evalar and Formstandard, these alternatives cannot fully compensate for the volume previously produced by Infamed.
The most well-known analogue is Chlorhexidine. It can, in principle, replace Miramistin for most indications, but Miramistin is, of course, a more effective, more modern product. As I said, there are also indirect analogues from other manufacturers besides Infamed. Evalar, for example, makes a similar product, and a number of other companies, including Formstandard, produce and sell small volumes. Although this is a fairly wide range, in terms of the share they occupy, it is incomparable and smaller than the volume that Infamed produced and promoted. Of course, it would be unrealistic to replace this lost volume – we are talking about the need to increase production by several orders of magnitude, which is simply technically impossible. Therefore, certain disruptions and problems are, of course, possible if this situation drags on and is not resolved quickly. The situation itself is, of course, extremely strange: it`s unclear how a company`s operations can be restricted as an interim measure. It`s just a complete nonsense.
Nikolay BespalovDirector of Development, RNC Pharma
Bespalov emphasized that scaling up the production of these alternatives to meet demand is unrealistic, and a prolonged halt in Infamed`s operations will inevitably lead to supply disruptions and shortages. He also described the restrictive measures against the company as «extremely strange» and «a complete nonsense.»
Infamed also manufactures the antiseptic Ocomistin, and its production has likewise ceased.
