Danish pharmaceutical company Lundbeck switches to partnership model in Russia

The main burden will fall on Swixx Group, which will take control of 21 markets, including Russia, Israel, Eastern Europe and South America. Zuellig Pharma will be responsible for Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore, and NewBridge Pharmaceuticals will focus on Saudi Arabia and the UAE. In 2024, combined sales in these territories reached $421 million, or about 12% of Lundbeck's global revenue.

As a result of the changes, 602 employees of the company will lose their jobs, but most will be able to continue their careers with new distributors. The transition to the partner model is scheduled to be completed on December 1, 2025. In Russia, the company operates through the legal entity Lundbeck Rus, registered in Moscow in 2003. According to Audit-It, in 2024, the subsidiary increased its revenue by 15% compared to 2023, to 580.8 million rubles, and net profit increased by a third, to 15.1 million rubles.

Lundbeck's portfolio in Russia covers a wide range of drugs for the treatment of central nervous system diseases. Antidepressants include Cipramil (citalopram), Cipralex (escitalopram) and Brintellix (vortioxetine), which belongs to a new generation of drugs. The antipsychotic segment includes Rexalti (brexpiprazole), Fluanksol (flupentixol), Truxal (chlorprothixene) and Serdolect (sertindole). Some drugs, including Fluanksol and Clopixol (zuclopenthixol), are included in the list of vital and essential drugs. A separate area is occupied by Selincro (nalmefene), used to treat alcohol addiction.

The antipsychotic Rexalti was not included in the list of vital and essential drugs in 2025. Despite the recommendation of the commission in August 2024, at a repeat meeting of the Ministry of Health, the decision to include the drug in the list was not supported due to the company's reluctance to supply the drug at a fixed price. The FAS emphasized the social importance of brexpiprazole and noted that without registration, purchases would be made at higher prices.

Against this background, in early September 2025, the Russian chemical holding AppScience submitted an application to the Ministry of Health to conduct clinical trials for the further production of a generic version of the new-generation antidepressant Brintellix (vortioxetine). This drug ranks second in terms of sales among Lundbeck products in Russia: in the first half of 2025, its sales reached about 476 million rubles, which is 26% of the company's Russian revenue. In total, Lundbeck has 10 molecules on the Russian market, most of which do not yet have generics. The company's total revenue in the Russian Federation for the same period, according to DSM Group, amounted to about 1.8 billion rubles in wholesale prices.

According to AppScience representatives, there are currently no plans to work with Lundbeck, but the company does not rule out discussing possible cooperation in the future. At the same time, AppScience's key focus remains on the production and supply of chemicals, including localized complex chemistry, while the development of its own line of drugs is expected to be due to the first generics in nosologies where the Russian market is not yet sufficiently represented.

AppScience believes that the emergence of a Russian analogue of vortioxetine could make therapy for central nervous system diseases more accessible and sustainable for patients by localizing production in Russia and friendly countries. The company expects clinical trials to begin in the coming months, and the generic could be launched on the market by mid-2027.