Rustam Minnikhanov meets senior executives of GlaxoSmithKline Company

On November 29, during his two-day working visit to the United Kingdom, Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov had a meeting with senior executives of GlaxoSmithKline Company, one of the world's leading manufacturers of medicines for treating asthma, antibacterial and antiviral drugs, anti-HIV drugs, vaccines, and OTC medicine.

In terms of sales, GSK is among the top 20 pharmaceutical manufacturers in the Russian pharmaceutical market.

During the talks, Minnikhanov expressed his interest in cooperation with the company both in the localization of its production facilities in the region, and in the field of joint research and training of medical personnel.

As noted at the meeting, the company supplies medicine to Tatarstan under the federal programmes of the Ministry of Health of Russia. Moreover, it has joint research projects with some regional medical institutions and actively collaborates with the AIDS center in Kazan.

The company’s representatives noted that they are interested in strengthening partnership relations with Russian regions in the field of scientific research. They proposed starting cooperation with Tatarstan through the UN under UNAIDS programme in the area of ​​preventive measures and the fight against AIDS. To date, the world's 50 leading cities have already joined the UN initiative to defeat AIDS, however, there is no Russian cities participating in the programme.

Minnikhanov noted that the issue of the fight against AIDS is very relevant all over the world. We need to talk about this problem, train specialists, carry out preventive measures, he said.

Tatarstan President supported the proposal to join the UN initiative. He gave an errand to set up a working group to look into the initiative, coordinate actions and involve the Ministry of Health of the republic.

Today’s meeting also discussed issues of possible cooperation in the field of clinical research and treatment of respiratory diseases.

Our integration should be deeper, Minnikhanov said summing up the meeting.