Summing up the results of International Student Festival “GxP-Fest”

On the 2nd of July, on the occasion of the solemn opening ceremony, their welcoming addresses to the festival’s participants delivered First Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Vasily Osmakov and Deputy Minister of Health of the Russian Federation Sergey Glagolev. Also, in the opening ceremony participated the following dignitaries: Member of State Duma Committee on Health Protection, Head of Expert Council of the Duma Committee on Development of the Pharmaceutical and Medical Industry Aleksandr Petrov, Deputy Head of State Duma Committee on Education and Science Maskim Zaytsev, Chairman of the GxP-Fest Expert Council, the Science Director of the Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution “National Research Institute of Public Health named after N.A. Semashko” Ramil Khabriev and Executive Director of the Eurasian Academy of Good Practices Andrey Egorov.

Vladislav Shestakov, Director of FSI “State Institute of Drugs and Good Practices” of the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade in his speech underscored that the rapid development of the Russian pharmaceutical industry necessitates the nurture and training of young cadres, who may become a worthy change to those, who are currently working in the pharmaceutical companies and manufacturing sites. In that respect, it is imperative to support initiatives on organizing internships in the pharmaceutical companies, conduct relevant competitions and events, aimed at exchanging of experience between professionals and future specialists.

The main event of the International Student Festival “GxP-Fest-2021” was the pharmaceutical Olympiad. Overall, the competition received 141 entries from 36 educational institutions of Russia and EAEU member-states, and 99 students were permitted to proceed until the competition’s main stage. The writing of competition tasks was done in a remote mode, and in so doing, observers from among experts of the pharmaceutical field were supervising – in an online mode – the process with a view of ensuring that it is honest and transparent. The Expert Council was responsible for evaluating the work, and the Council’s members included representatives of the relevant government authorities and associations, leading companies of the industry and educational institutions. In the course of four hours, specialists were analyzing the completed Olympiad tasks, evaluating them and systemizing rating. In turn, the auditors of Ernst & Young were supervising the work of the Expert Council.

In the end, the winners and annual named scholarship holders of the Eurasian Academy of Good Practices were:

• 1st place – a fourth-year student of the faculty of pharmacy of Privolzhsky Research Medical University, Natalia Dubovskaya (360,000 rubles);
• 2nd place – a second-year postgraduate student of the faculty of pharmacy of Belarusian State Technological University, Yana Strakh (240,000 rubles);
• 3rd place – a first-year postgraduate student of the faculty of chemistry and pharmacy of Tomsk Polytechnic Faculty, Yulia Shabanova (180,000 rubles).

Two days of the festival were full of interesting events, one of which were business meetups of the general partner MSD Pharmaceuticals LLC and the official partner JSC Amgen. The moderator of the sessions was the international cooperation lead of autonomous noncommercial organization “The Eurasian Academy of Good Practices” Ivan Gulyaev. Representatives of the companies spoke about the peculiarities of their activities and internship programs, and cited real cases of employees, who have devoted their careers to the pharmaceutical field; in return, participants of the festival posed their questions to the professionals during informal conversations.

Specialists advised students and postgraduates to send their CVs more actively to the companies that are of interest to them and not to be afraid to present themselves as the market is in need of active and motivated young professionals

Interestingly, the Olympiad winner, Natalia Dubovskaya, also won the main prize of the pharmaceutical quiz, organized by the general partner of the event, MSD Pharmaceuticals LLC.

The winner of the photography contest on the subject “Science that has changed the world” was a student of the pharmaceutical faculty of North Ossetian University, Svetlana Hachirova.

In addition, at the award ceremony the winner of the best logotype of the Eurasian Academy of Good Practices was announced – the Executive Director of the Union of Professional Pharmaceutical Organizations, Lilia Titova.

Chairman of the Gxp-Fest Expert Council, the Science Director of the Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution “National Research Institute of Public Health named after N.A. Semashko” Ramil Khabriev remarked that in recent years the attitude towards career ladders and social lifts has changed, and today new platforms such as GxP-Fest were being established, which allow students to effectively locate their own vector of professional development.

Concluding the program of International Student Festival “GxP-Fest”, Vladislav Shestakov underscored the high level of the Olympiad’s participants, and wished the students and graduates a successful development in their chosen field that has so much potential for self-actualization and application of the gained knowledge.

The following company partners supported the event:

General partner: MSD Pharmaceuticals LLC;

Official partner: Amgen LLC;

Partners: Skopinpharm LLC, Pharmaceutical company Sotex CSJC

Online registration partners: Sun Pharma LLC, JSC Nacimbio, Makiz Pharma LLC JSC Generium, LLC Geropharm, R-Pharm (State corporation).