Biotechnologies in Russia: restructuring and acceleration
The Russian biotechnology sector is rapidly reducing the 10-year gap
The Russian biotechnology sector, which is about a decade behind IT in terms of development, is successfully "catching up" with it, despite insufficient funding and regulatory problems, says Evgeny Zaitsev, general partner of the Helix Ventures fund.
"The Russian biopharmaceutical industry has always developed very distinctively and very disconnected from the global industry, and only recently has integration begun to take place... In my understanding, the Russian (sector) biotech is probably ten years behind IT," Zaitsev told RIA Novosti on the sidelines of the Russian Innovation Week conference.
He explained that the Russian IT industry is now "very well developed, it is on the same level with the same Silicon Valley," and the creators of IT startups in Russia and the United States "speak the same language."
"This is not the case with the biotech industry. (Sector) biotech has come a very long way here (in the USA – ed.), 20-30 billion dollars are invested annually from government sources alone... There was a period of time in Russia when science was not funded at all – and unlike IT, biotechnologies require very serious investments, if science is not funded, then nothing happens in it," Zaitsev said.
"Accordingly, the Russian (sector) biotech has already lagged far behind in the 1990s. Now it is increasing momentum very quickly, but the industry itself, the very consciousness of the people who work in this field, of course, has been left a little behind," the expert added.
Zaitsev stressed that now the biotechnology sector is very quickly catching up with other innovative areas, because in addition to high-level personnel and research centers and schools, funding has also appeared, which, however, is "absolutely insufficient".
In addition, according to the investor, there are problems in the regulatory environment, the conditions of which are important both from the point of view of companies entering the market and for protecting the rights of patients.
"The regulatory process of bringing innovative products to the market is very imperfect both in medicines and in medical devices," Zaitsev said, noting that the situation in this area is also changing for the better.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru26.10.2012