The Eurasian Pharmaceutical Summit, which was held by the Global Pharmaceutical Leaders’ Club in Samarkand at the end of September, brought together more than 300 experts and leaders of the pharmaceutical industry to discuss hot topics and find innovative solutions. This event provides a unique opportunity for pharmaceutical industry specialists to raise concerns with regulators, exchange experiences and determine the direction of movement in the markets of Central Asia, the Caucasus and Eastern Europe.

Key summit highlights:

• Leaders’ strategies: the summit participants discussed the development strategies of pharmaceutical companies and their adaptation to various markets in the region.
• Investment potential: issues of the markets’ investment attractiveness and potential became one of the main topics of the program.
• Regulatory aspects: regulatory strategies for various markets, issues of registration and re-registration of medicines were in the centre of attention at the summit.
• Pricing and labelling: issues of approaches to pricing regulation and implementation of drug labelling were raised by attendees at the sessions and round tables.
• State procurement: different approaches to organising public procurement in the countries of the region were discussed at the summit.
• Intellectual property protection: protection of intellectual property rights for pharmaceutical drugs remains one of the problematic areas in the region’s pharmaceutical markets.
• Access of innovative pharmaceutical drugs to markets: conditions for increasing the attractiveness of the region’s markets for the launch of innovative medicines were discussed at the summit.

An important feature of this year’s summit was its interactive formats, including round tables with regulators, master classes and one-to-one meetings with top executives of distribution companies and pharmacy chains.

The contest for the Eurasian Pharma Awards that is organised as a part of the Eurasian Pharmaceutical Summit has become traditional and received 97 applications from pharmaceutical producers, distributors and pharmacy chains from the countries of Central Asia, the Caucasus and Eastern Europe this year. The fifteen winners in various nominations were announced in 2023.

Registration for the Eurasian Pharmaceutical Summit 2024 will open soon. It traditionally will be held in a hybrid format with an offline part in Uzbekistan early autumn. We look forward to meeting the companies that take part in the summit every year and new companies in 2024!