Drugmakers pause trials in Russia while still sending medicine
14 March 2022
...Drugmakers including Pfizer Inc., Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co., Roche Holding Ag and Bristol Myers Squib Co. are seeking to strike a balance between international opprobrium over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the needs of sick patients.
New York-based Pfizer said...that it would no longer start new clinical trials in Russia and that it would donate all profits from its subsidiary in the country to Ukraine relief causes.At the same time, the drugmaker said in a statement that it will continue to supply medicines to Russia, out of fear that vulnerable patients such as children and elderly people who rely on its therapies could be harmed by any halt...
The company “concluded that a voluntary pause in the flow of our medicines to Russia would be in direct violation of our foundational principle of putting patients first,” according to the statement. Pfizer said it doesn’t own or operate any manufacturing sites in Russia and that it intends to cease planned investments with local suppliers...