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Russia gathered the country’s largest pharmaceutical companies in a closed strategic session at the TV BRICS headquarters in Moscow to discuss the expansion of the drug market in BRICS+ countries. Experts presented forecasts for the sector between 2026 and 2030, debated ways to diversify exports, and explored opportunities for registering innovative drugs in Global South markets. The event marks the beginning of a conference cycle that could reshape the global map of the pharmaceutical industry.
The BRICS countries are building their own pharmaceutical framework that could alter the power distribution in a market that moves hundreds of billions of dollars annually and has so far been dominated by American and European laboratories. The first strategic session, held at the TV BRICS headquarters in Moscow, brought together representatives from the public and private sectors, industrial organizations, analysis centers, and the largest Russian pharmaceutical companies to discuss how the bloc’s countries can expand the production and trade of medicines among themselves and to the Global South.
The event was not just an exploratory conversation: it brought concrete data and an action plan. Svetlana Nikulina, sales director at IQDATA, presented analytical forecasts on the Russian pharmaceutical market between 2026 and 2030. The Russian Export Center detailed financial and non-financial instruments to support sector exporters. The Eurasian Economic Union Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association coordinated the debates, indicating that the movement goes beyond a single country and involves an entire economic bloc seeking autonomy in the medicines supply chain.
What the experts discussed in the closed session in Moscow
The strategic session addressed global trends in the pharmaceutical markets of BRICS+ countries, challenges faced by Russian manufacturers, and possible paths for international expansion. The experts emphasized the need to diversify exports, assess the capacity of the bloc’s markets, and create collaboration mechanisms that allow member countries to register and market medicines with each other with fewer bureaucratic barriers.
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The registration process for innovative medicines was one of the central points. Each BRICS country has its own sanitary regulations, and harmonizing these rules is a condition for a Russian laboratory to sell in India, China, or Brazil without undergoing duplicated processes that cost years and millions of dollars. The creation of common evaluation and certification standards was identified as a priority to unlock pharmaceutical trade within the bloc.
Why BRICS wants its own pharmaceutical industry
The dependence on medicines manufactured by Western laboratories was exposed during the Covid-19 pandemic when Global South countries faced difficulties accessing vaccines, supplies, and treatments in a timely manner. The episode accelerated the search for pharmaceutical autonomy among nations that represent almost half of the world’s population and collectively spend hundreds of billions of dollars annually on importing medicines from American, European, and Swiss laboratories.
For Russia, which has faced Western sanctions since 2022, building an alternative pharmaceutical chain is even more urgent. The country needs to ensure the supply of essential medicines without relying on suppliers who may interrupt supply for geopolitical reasons. The expansion to BRICS+ markets offers both supply security and commercial opportunity for the Russian pharmaceutical industry, which seeks new buyers outside Europe.
The role of Brazil and India in the bloc’s new pharmaceutical chain
Brazil and India are central pieces in the BRICS pharmaceutical strategy because they have consolidated industrial parks and large-scale production capacity. India is already known as the “pharmacy of the world” for its massive production of generics, while Brazil has public laboratories like Fiocruz and Butantan that master vaccine and biologic technologies. The articulation between these two countries and Russia can create a supply chain that bypasses Western intermediaries.
China, another BRICS member, adds industrial scale and research investment that complement the capabilities of the others. The combination of the four largest members of the bloc creates an ecosystem that goes from basic research to mass production, passing through regulation, logistics, and distribution. If this chain functions in an integrated way, the BRICS countries can significantly reduce dependence on Western laboratories and capture a relevant share of a global market that exceeds US$1.5 trillion per year.
Forecasts for the Russian pharmaceutical market until 2030
The forecasts presented by IQDATA at the session in Moscow indicate significant growth in the Russian pharmaceutical market in the coming years, driven by import substitution and increased domestic production capacity. Russia is investing in the local production of medicines it previously imported from Europe, and the strategy includes not only supplying internal consumption but also exporting to BRICS+ countries and the Global South that are seeking alternatives to traditional suppliers.
The Russian Export Center presented support instruments that cover the entire life cycle of export projects, from financing to logistics and insertion into destination markets. The goal is to expand the geography of Russian pharmaceutical sales to regions currently served almost exclusively by Western laboratories, creating competition in a sector where price, availability, and geopolitical independence are increasingly decisive factors for buyers.
What media diplomacy has to do with medicines
One of the highlights of the session was the importance of interaction between the business community and the national media of the BRICS+ countries. TV BRICS acts as a platform for information exchange among the media of member countries, and the strategy includes using this network to promote the image of the bloc’s pharmaceutical sector on the international stage and facilitate contacts between companies and governments.
The approach is pragmatic: media diplomacy acts as a bridge between companies that want to export and markets that are unaware of available products. If a Russian laboratory produces a quality generic at a competitive price, but no one in Brazil or South Africa knows about it, the commercial opportunity is lost. The cycle of strategic sessions by TV BRICS seeks to fill this gap, connecting supply and demand through qualified information and sectoral analysis shared among the bloc’s countries.
Do you think BRICS can truly compete with Western laboratories in the medicine market, or will the dependence on technology and patents continue to hinder this ambition? Tell us in the comments what you think about Brazil manufacturing its own medicines in partnership with Russia, India, and China.
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