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The Russian pharmaceutical industry, due to the refusal of Western companies to supply components to the country, is facing shortages of chromatographic columns produced, among others, by Agilent Technologies, Waters, and Phenomenex. Such devices are needed in the development of new drugs and for quality control during the release of already registered drugs. Some manufacturers have enough reserves at best for six months. Distributors are trying to import products through third countries, but this has led to its rise in price and delays in deliveries. It is difficult to find analogues to the columns of US and EU companies, and they are not produced in Russia. 

As several pharmaceutical manufacturers told Kommersant, there was a shortage of chromatographic columns in the industry after major Western manufacturers suspended their supplies or restricted imports to Russia. These devices are necessary when developing new drugs. They are also used for quality control at every stage in the production of already registered medicines, allowing to detect, among other things, foreign impurities. The president of Active Component, Alexander Semenov, says that his company's existing stocks of chromatographic columns will last for three to six months.

“Khimmed” (a distributor of reagents and equipment for laboratories) names American Agilent Technologies, Waters, Phenomenex, as well as German Merck and Macherey-Nagel among the main manufacturers of chromatographic columns. Alexey Kartashov, Senior Sales Manager at “Aquachrome” (“Waters” distributor), told Kommersant that the manufacturer stopped deliveries in early March. The same was done at the end of February by Phenomenex.

Waters, Phenomenex and Macherey-Nagel did not respond to a request from Kommersant. Agilent stated that they decided to close their business in Russia from May 23. Merck declined to comment. In March, the company announced that it was limiting operations in Russia to "core activities related only to healthcare." The Japanese Shimadzu also announced the reduction of its work in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.

However, distributors are not ready to give up the products that have gone.

In "Aquachrome" they say that they will continue deliveries, but not through the EU countries, as it was before. While there are still opportunities for import through third countries, confirms the president of the "Active Component" Alexander Semenov.

According to Mr. Semenov, due to the violation of the usual supply mechanisms, prices for speakers increased by 30-50%. For the same reason, delivery times have also increased, “Khimmed” adds. Some pharmaceutical manufacturers are forced to replenish stocks of chromatographic columns by purchasing them from third-party intermediaries. So, for example, “Vertex” does, says a company representative. But such purchases "cost exorbitantly" and involve serious difficulties and risks, he notes. "Vertex", according to his representative, cannot replace the products with which it worked, and it is not produced in Russia. 

“Chimmed”  claims that they are ready to offer analogues, including from "guaranteed loyal" manufacturers from China. “Aquachrome” also reported that they are testing the products of one of the Chinese companies. They expect to find a replacement in China and in the "Active Component". But any change of supplier is accompanied by changes to the documentation submitted to the regulator when registering the drug, and this is a complex and bureaucratic process, Vertex notes.

However, the shortage of chromatographic columns does not exhaust the difficulties of pharmaceutical manufacturers. A much more serious problem may be with chromatographs, the import of which to Russia, unlike columns, is prohibited under EU sanctions, two distributors warn. For this reason, the interlocutor of Kommersant says, many pharmaceutical manufacturers will not be able to update this equipment, and will also lose service.

Source: https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/5393452?from=main