Senator Ainur Argynbekova raised the issue of ensuring the country's drug security in the Majilis and criticized the pace of development of the domestic pharmaceutical industry. In particular, she stated that only two proprietary drugs have been created in Kazakhstan over the past 10 years. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
The senator cited audit data from the Supreme Audit Chamber (SAC) for 2025, which showed that the share of domestic medicines in the domestic market, with a planned target of 25%, reached only 16% by the end of the year.
"This indicates risks in implementing the head of state's instruction to increase the share of domestic medicinal products (DMP) in the domestic market to 50% by 2029," she emphasized.
At the same time, the senator noted that more than 200 pharmaceutical enterprises operate in the country, of which 43 specialize in drug production and 164 in the production of medical devices.
"The audit conducted in 2025 also revealed an extremely low level of scientific research in the pharmaceutical industry. Over the past 10 years, only two domestic original medicinal products have been registered in Kazakhstan. One of them has not yet been included in the national drug formulary. This is despite the fact that more than 4 billion tenge of budget funds were allocated for its development," she emphasized.
Deputy Minister of Health Timur Sultangaziyev responded to the parliamentary request, explaining the specifics of the pharmaceutical market and outlining systemic measures and contracts with global giants that will help increase the share of domestic products to 50% by 2029.
"Indeed, according to the results of 2025, the share of domestic medicines in value terms was 16%. However, it is necessary to take into account the specifics of the pharmaceutical market. In value terms, a large share is influenced directly by expensive and innovative drugs, such as orphan drugs, which have patent protection and are very difficult to localize," he explained.
At the same time, the official emphasized that in physical terms, DMP reached 40%, which, in his opinion, reflects the actual volume of consumption of necessary medicines by the population.
As for the president's instruction to achieve 50% DMP by 2029, according to Sultangaziyev, everything is going according to plan.
"To fulfill the head of state's instruction, a number of systemic measures are being implemented. First, conditions have been created and long-term contracts (83 agreements) have been concluded for the purchase of more than 2,000 types of medicines and medical devices. Second, starting this year, an investment agreement is being implemented. Contracts have already been concluded in eight areas totaling more than 390 billion tenge for the localization of production of about 500 types of medicines," he emphasized.
He also explained that projects on technology transfer and localization of production are currently being implemented jointly with major international manufacturers.
"As for scientific developments, the ministry approaches this issue systematically. Today, we are moving to a full cycle of market entry – from development, clinical trials, obtaining a registration certificate, to entering the market itself," he replied.
Earlier, Kursiv reported that prices for some medicines in Kazakh pharmacies have begun to decrease. This was announced by the Ministry of Health after summarizing the results of a comparative price analysis across the republic. In particular, we are talking about 669 drug names. However, which specific drugs have become cheaper was not reported.