ARMENIA TO IMPLEMENT GMP STANDARDS FROM 2013
Global Insight
November 7, 2012
BYLINE: Kavita Rainova
Armenia will be introducing mandatory good manufacturing practice
(GMP) standards on pharmaceutical companies from 1 January 2013,
with the Ministry of Economy planning to conduct inspections to ensure
compliance with GMP standards, reports Arka.am. According to the head
of the Union of Medicine Producers and Importers, Samvel Zakaryan,
"This would help increase production and export of drugs from the
country by 2-3 times." However, as per Health Minister Derenik
Dumanyan, currently only around three or four companies will be
in a position to receive the "corresponding European certificates
and ensure their products meet the international requirements"
by March-April 2013. Dumanyan further noted that it was necessary
"to actively work with" another 14 drug manufacturers to ensure that
their products meet the required standards.
Significance:The Armenian government originally announced its plans
to implement mandatory GMP standards in January 2011 (seeArmenia:
31 January 2011:). According to the statistics cited by the source,
pharmaceutical production increased by 5.3% year-on-year in the
January-September period, amounting to AMD2.7 billion (USD6.62
million), with around 50% of the pharmaceutical production being
exported to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries. By
implementing GMP standards, the government would be hoping to ensure
access of Armenian products to the European market, thereby providing
further impetus to the pharmaceutical industry. However, given the
low number of companies that have implemented these standards, the
government may potentially have to provide further support to the
domestic companies to speed up the introduction of the standards. The
Armenian companies had previously expressed their discontent over
government plans for introducing GMP standards, due to concerns over
funds (seeArmenia: 18 February 2012:).
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Global Insight
November 7, 2012
BYLINE: Kavita Rainova
Armenia will be introducing mandatory good manufacturing practice
(GMP) standards on pharmaceutical companies from 1 January 2013,
with the Ministry of Economy planning to conduct inspections to ensure
compliance with GMP standards, reports Arka.am. According to the head
of the Union of Medicine Producers and Importers, Samvel Zakaryan,
"This would help increase production and export of drugs from the
country by 2-3 times." However, as per Health Minister Derenik
Dumanyan, currently only around three or four companies will be
in a position to receive the "corresponding European certificates
and ensure their products meet the international requirements"
by March-April 2013. Dumanyan further noted that it was necessary
"to actively work with" another 14 drug manufacturers to ensure that
their products meet the required standards.
Significance:The Armenian government originally announced its plans
to implement mandatory GMP standards in January 2011 (seeArmenia:
31 January 2011:). According to the statistics cited by the source,
pharmaceutical production increased by 5.3% year-on-year in the
January-September period, amounting to AMD2.7 billion (USD6.62
million), with around 50% of the pharmaceutical production being
exported to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries. By
implementing GMP standards, the government would be hoping to ensure
access of Armenian products to the European market, thereby providing
further impetus to the pharmaceutical industry. However, given the
low number of companies that have implemented these standards, the
government may potentially have to provide further support to the
domestic companies to speed up the introduction of the standards. The
Armenian companies had previously expressed their discontent over
government plans for introducing GMP standards, due to concerns over
funds (seeArmenia: 18 February 2012:).
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress