Russia's healthcare watchdog had made a second request for the company's license to be suspended after inspections uncovered a series of violations. Bryntsalov-A, which produces cheaper substitutes for popular foreign brands in Russia, has gained a dubious reputation over accusation from some pharmaceutical producers that it sells unlicensed medication.
Defense lawyers of the pharmaceutical company said they were unlikely to appeal the ruling, and the Federal Service for the Oversight of Public Health and Social Affairs declined to say whether they would question the court's decision.
The chief spokesperson for Bryntsalov-A, Nadezhda Gritsenko, said all the discovered violations related only to the production process, but not to the quality of the company's medicines.
In mid-November, the court passed an identical ruling on a suit filed by a healthcare watchdog, demanding license suspension for the firm after inspections uncovered counterfeit medicine at a company's storehouse. Bryntsalov-A is controlled by Russian pharmaceuticals and vodka tycoon Vladimir Bryntsalov, who is also a former presidential candidate.
Bryntsalov-A had called on the service to withdraw the suit, saying all uncovered violations had been corrected, and arguing that the suspension of the company's activities would damage the firm and undermine a government program to provide medicine for poor people, toward which the company is contributing $450,000-worth of medication.
The Russian healthcare watchdog recently launched a campaign to curb the spread of counterfeit pharmaceutical products in Russia, saying counterfeit medicine accounts for 50% of the market. However, market experts put the figure at only 4%.
