Presentation of the potential of the Kirov region in biopharmaceuticals

Governor of the Kirov Region Igor Vasilyev is on a working visit to Lyon, France, on July 5-6. Today, the head of the region met with the leaders of the Lyon Metropolis and presented the Kirov biotech cluster. Delegation members also visited the major pharmaceutical cluster "Lyonbiopôle," where they toured the facilities of the BIOASTER Research Institute. The institute focuses on infectious diseases and microbiology within the high-tech Biodistrict Lyon-Gerland, which is home to leading companies in health and biotechnology.

The regional delegation also included First Deputy Governor of the Kirov Region Alexander Churin, Deputy Chairman of the regional government Alexey Korobov, and Deputy Minister of Industrial Policy Artem Nopin. The Kirov biotech cluster was represented by Vladimir Khristenko, President of Nanolek, and Mikhail Nekrasov, General Director of the company.

During the meeting with the leaders of the Lyon Metropolis, Igor Vasilyev spoke about the recently established biotech cluster in the region. The new structure includes 17 companies: research organizations and enterprises such as Nanolek, AVVA RUS, AgroVet, Kirov Pharmaceutical Factory, RosPlasma, and SKB MT, as well as Vyatka State University and Kirov State Medical University, and companies producing components, equipment, and packaging for finished medicines.

In the strategy for socio-economic development of the Kirov Region until 2020, the development of biotechnology and biopharmaceuticals is one of the key directions for the region's industry. Therefore, the regional government is interested in further exchanging experiences in cluster creation and is committed to long-term cooperation with the French Republic.

"Creating an industrial cluster is a real opportunity to produce domestic medicines in the Kirov Region, which will be much cheaper than imported ones, to create high-tech jobs, and to train highly qualified specialists—we have all the conditions for this. This will increase the region's investment attractiveness and attract additional federal funding. To fully implement these plans, it is important for us to study the experience of the Lyon Metropolis, where biotechnology has been successfully developed within a cluster for several decades,"- summarized Igor Vasilyev.

The Kirov Region already produces vaccines for pets and biological plant protection products. There is also significant groundwork in the production of drugs for treating blood diseases. The production of import-substituting medicines has been launched, both developed independently and in collaboration with foreign partners (vaccines for polio and influenza, drugs for treating certain oncological and rare diseases). One of the key participants in the cluster is Nanolek, which has become the only partner of the Russian government to date for the production and supply of inactivated polio vaccine for the national immunization schedule. Nanolek was also chosen by the French company Sanofi Pasteur as its sole partner in Russia for producing a vaccine against five infections.

In turn, representatives of the French company Sanofi Pasteur noted the successful implementation of a joint localization project for vaccine production at Nanolek's facility in the Kirov Region and discussed the possibility of launching several more joint projects.

-"In 2021, after the complete transfer of production technology and quality control systems, we plan to begin producing the finished vaccine form at Nanolek's facility, with a projected annual volume of 8-10 million doses. Throughout the project, we have felt the interest and support of the regional leadership and personally from Governor Igor Vasilyev, which we highly value. We are confident that the localization project for our combined five-component vaccine is a significant contribution by our company both to increasing the investment attractiveness of the Kirov Region and to achieving the main goal of Sanofi Pasteur—ensuring that all Russian children are protected from dangerous infections,"- said Guillaume Oschalger, General Director of Sanofi Pasteur in Russia and Belarus.

Governor Igor Vasilyev, in turn, invited the French partners to make a return visit to the Kirov Region as part of the experience exchange.

Continuing the visit, the Kirov delegation toured the industrial facilities of the Lyonbiopôle cluster. The cluster includes 180 innovative companies and 14 research and clinical centers. The Kirov residents visited the independent BIOASTER Research Institute, conceived as a unique technology institute focused on infectious diseases and microbiology. The institute has offices in Lyon and Paris and employs over 100 people, including 80 world-class scientists and engineers from 16 different countries.

On July 6, the delegation of the Kirov Region is also scheduled to visit the facilities of the Marcy l'Etoile Biological Institute—one of the largest vaccine research, development, and production centers in the world, where the Sanofi Pasteur laboratory is located. Vaccines for 11 infections are produced here, and immunoglobulins are purified. Vaccines produced at Marcy l'Etoile meet the quality standards of Europe, the United States, and Japan and are used worldwide.