BeaconIdeas: Coming to a Russian Pharmacy near You
In the investment world, BRIC has become synonymous with growth and newly emerged markets. I restrict most of our investing to BIC, Brazil, India and China. We mostly leave Russia out. Political uncertainty, an economy with a high dependency on oil and old cold war bruises that are not entirely healed are just some of the reasons. I only once dipped the toe of our portfolio strategy into Russian waters in 2009. It is a fairly consistent winner in the mobile arena.
InPharm.com, a publication owned by John Wiley & Sons Ltd, has highlighted opportunities for large multinational pharmas in Russia. Seeking new markets in fast growing emerging markets is a specific attribute I seek in our investments.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia’s population decline has declined by seven million. Smoking, drinking and unhealthy diets and lifestyles are behind very high levels of cardiovascular diseases, cancers and respiratory disease are all major contributors to this. The level of HIV/AIDS infection is also high, with treatment levels low.
This all adds up to a very high death rate of 15 deaths per 1000 people per year, and a UN forecast says Russia’s population could decline by a further 11 million by 2025 unless radical measures are taken.
