On November 29, 2017 the Pharma Breakfast “Current state and development of the pharmaceutical industry” organized by the St. Petersburg International Business Association (SPIBA) took place.

The pharma business cannot exist without advertisement and promotion of drugs. Often enough, the general and special requirements for advertising are not observed because companies are either uninformed or do so intentionally. In 2016, of all the violations caught by the Russian Federal Antitrust Services (FAS), 13.67% were in advertising of medical services, drugs and dietary supplements.

Andrey Astanin, Of Counsel of the Antitrust practice at Capital Legal Services, dedicated his presentation to the general advertising requirements, where he spoke about the most typical violations of the Advertising Law by pharma companies, as well as special requirements for advertising drugs and dietary supplements. At the end of his presentation, Andrey gave examples of unlawful advertising.                                                  

Among the participants of the event were the Chairman of the St. Petersburg Committee for Industrial Policy and Innovations and major federal companies such as BIOCAD, Novartis and others.

Participants of the event noted the importance of the topic and the straightforward format of providing information.