FEATURES OF THE ACTIVITIES OF PHARMACEUTICAL MANUFACTURING COMPANIES IN MODERN CONDITIONS

A pharmaceutical company is a division of the pharmaceutical industry whose main

whose functions are the development, research, production, sale of medicines intended for the prevention, relief and treatment of diseases. Depending on the functions that companies perform, they can be divided into three main groups:

1. Manufacturing companies that include the entire cycle, from the development and research of a molecule to the sale of finished products.

2. Distribution companies that sell medicines and medical products.

3. Companies that are engaged in clinical research of drugs. Manufacturing companies very often resort to the services of these companies.

Of greatest interest from the point of view of the diversity of their activities are the manufacturing companies, which include such pharmaceutical giants as Pfizer (USA), Novartis (Switzerland), Ro^e Holding (Switzerland), Merk & Go (USA), Sanofi (France) , GlaxoSmithKline (UK) and many others. The total sales of these companies in 2013 amounted to more than 301.8 billion dollars. Analyzing these figures, it becomes clear why the pharmaceutical business is one of the most profitable. The history of these companies goes back to the distant 19th century, and begins, as a rule, with small laboratories or pharmacies, as a result of the development of which small companies began to be formed, and then through the merger of two or more units and

world-famous pharmaceutical giants emerged. The success of these companies is due to the development of innovative molecules, the effectiveness of which had to be proven through numerous clinical trials.

research, and then developing marketing strategies to widely introduce new drugs into the medical community, spending enormous amounts of money along the way. Such companies are called Original or Branded. But there are, and at the same time, so-called generic pharmaceutical companies are developing intensively.

When original pharmaceutical companies' patent protection expires, they lose the exclusive right to manufacture and market their drugs. And from this moment on, any other company can enter the market with this drug using the INN (International Nonproprietary Number).

name) or under another patent name different from the name of the original drug. These companies no longer need to conduct clinical studies and develop a niche for the application of this drug. They follow an already paved path. This explains the big difference in price between the original drug and the generic.