Posted: March 5, 2009

(Nanowerk News) The infrastructure containing the full range of services to provide the Russian producers and research institutions with high-purity chemical and biochemical reagents is currently absent in Russia. This factor is greatly restraining the development of innovative technologies and companies in the field of biomedicine.
The project to create a storage directory for high-purity reagents in Russia will be realized in three stages. The total investment into the project is estimated at €2,365,000. RUSNANO is to invest approximately €1,275,000 into the project in the form of direct investments and a loan.
The first stage of the project (2009-2010) provides for the creation of all necessary infrastructure, including specialized licensed storage, a system of customs clearing, transport logistics including rail, sea, road and air, a database with an online ordering interface, an electronic system for reagent recordkeeping and screening. The creation of this infrastructure will make it possible to ensure the fulfillment of orders within 24 hours for the Moscow region and 48-72 hours for the rest of Russia. At this stage the range will be composed of between 10,000 and 15,000 reagents.
The second stage (2010-2011) will see the range of reagents increase to 20,000, and a project company will come forward to set up its own packing lines and the organization of a quality control system. This will make it possible to exploit the significant potential of Russian producers of high-purity reagents, whose main customers are at present foreign companies.
The realization of the third stage (2012-2014) anticipates bringing the number of reagents to 25,000 and forming the first Russian storage facility of high-purity chemical and biochemical reagents.
Tatiana Nikolenko, director of RUSNANO’s infrastructural programs, noted: “the Russian market for high-purity chemical and biochemical reagents in the past year was valued at $682m. The target segments where the newly created company will be working were selected after considering the need for high-purity reagents and the unique connections in spheres where a potential for innovation development is seen. Implementing this project will contribute to a considerable degree to the creation of new drugs, the development of methods of clinical diagnostics and analytical control by the Ministry of the Interior, Federal Security Service, centers of doping control and other agencies. It is very important that we create a sophisticated service for the delivery of high-purity reagents, which at present is virtually absent in Russia”.
Background
In the USA and Europe the research laboratories of universities and corporations serve as the source of innovative developments in the field of public health and life sciences, and standard early expenditures for reagents reach from $10,000 to $15,000 per researcher. Directory companies compete for orders, offering maximum price reductions and organizing the delivery of most reagents the day after an order is made.
Russian producers and scientists are currently placed at a competitive disadvantage, as the delivery of reagents takes two or more months at costs exceeding directory prices by many times. Solving this infrastructural problem will lower the risks of “brain drain” in the field of biotechnology, remove barriers in the way of creating innovation developments and enable a reduction in the production expenses of companies working in the sphere of public health and biotechnology.
Source: Rusnano