Armenian medicine producers work with various countries to expand the geography of medicine export, Albert Sahakyan, the deputy director of “Scientific Center of Drug And Medical Technology Expertise” told Armenpress. According to him, some shifts have already been registered.

“About 10% of the drugs registered in Armenia are of Armenian production and provide 7% of the drug demand of the republic.  About 90% of the drugs necessary for the republic residents and medical establishments are imported. According to the order of import amounts, the large importers as to 2016 are Switzerland, Hungary, Germany, France, Slovenia, Russia, Austria, Georgia, UK, USA”, Sahakyan said.

According to him, the drugs produced in Armenia are substantially exported to Iraq, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Russia, Latvia, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Ukraine, Yemen and Vietnam.

“Accordnig to the data we have, the Armenian drug producers implement activity in various countries to enlarge the export, and some shifts have already been registered. For example, “Liquor” CJSC started to export drugs to Iraq and Vietnam after receiving GMP certification”, Sahakyan said.

The geography of export really expands year by year, according to the Head of “Arpimed” Vachagan Ghazaryan.  Drugs are exported to Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan since 2014, as well as to Yemen starting from this year.

According to Albert Sahakyan, the main problems in medicine production are the financial investments and the lack of qualified specialists. However, extensive work has been initiated in the sphere of legislation towards medicine circulation regulation as the adoption of RA law “On medicine”.