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Therapeutic persuasion: what is becoming a driver of the development of medicine in the Russian Federation
The use of AI in Russian medicine is spreading at an incredible rate, stated Minister of Health Mikhail Murashko, speaking at the Drug Safety Forum, which was held on June 18 as part of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2025. Neurotechnologies are also rapidly developing, which provide doctors with a wide range of possibilities, from diagnosis to rehabilitation. The use of such technologies is basically impossible without interfering with the human nervous system, Maria Vorontsova, deputy director of the Medical Research and Educational Institute of Moscow State University, recalled, but the boundaries of this intervention should be regulated by bioethics. How the approach to disease prevention and treatment is changing with the development of technology, and what the leaders of the new medicine will be, is in the Izvestia article.
Development of new drugs
To meet the country's need for medicines, it is necessary to have a clear understanding of how many and which drugs are needed, said Minister of Health Mikhail Murashko at the Drug Safety forum, which was held on June 18 as part of the SPIEF. The agency is assisted in this by the system of registers, public procurement, labeling and state programs for the development of the pharmaceutical industry, he said.
"It is important for the state to support innovation," the minister stressed.
He recalled that, on behalf of the President of the Russian Federation, the national project "New Technologies for saving Health" has been implemented since this year. His key task is to create new breakthrough drugs and bring them to the patient. It involves the creation of 186 necessary drugs. In addition, about 380 medical devices are to be introduced to the Russian market.
Russian Minister of Health Mikhail Murashko
To enhance innovation, special software has been created that simplifies communication between the developer and the manufacturer of a promising drug, Mikhail Murashko added. Support is also aimed at various platform solutions (when several medicines are created based on the same technology at once. — Ed.).
It is important to develop standardized platform solutions that allow us to quickly develop similar products, said Veronika Skvortsova, head of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency. According to her, this area is especially relevant, in particular, for the fields of genetic and bioengineering, and molecular conjugation (combining medicinal molecules with other substances to improve their properties).
— Over the past three years, our research centers have developed more than 40 drugs. Of these, more than 20 have already been registered. For example, an original drug has been developed for the gene therapy treatment of spinal muscular atrophy. This is a modified genetically engineered construct of the well-known analogue of "Zolgensma". According to the results of experiments on model animals, it surpasses it both in efficiency and safety," Veronika Skvortsova noted.
The agency also develops drugs based on monoclonal antibodies, primarily for the treatment of autoimmune diseases. Recombinant molecular constructs are being developed to create a fundamentally new allergy vaccine.
More than 70% of the number of packages on the current market are domestic drugs, Mikhail Murashko noted.
"If you look at the market launch, over the past year and a half, almost 85% of the drugs that are being marketed are of domestic production," he added.
Russia is now providing other countries not only with generics, but also with its original drugs, said Valentina Kosenko, Acting Director General of the Scientific Center for Expertise of Medical Products of the Russian Ministry of Health, at the session "Drug Safety in a global context: developing cooperation." According to her, the country provides, among other things, high-quality domestic vaccines. For example, from yellow fever and polio.
"Russia is currently actively cooperating with the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union, but we expect to fully establish cooperation with our European colleagues," she stressed.
Neurotechnology in medicine
Neurotechnologies in medicine are also actively developing in Russia, Mikhail Murashko recalled. They provide an opportunity not only to diagnose diseases and treat patients, but also to help improve people's natural abilities. According to him, such technologies include, for example, neuromedicine and neuropharma.
— If you look at the number of companies that are developing in this direction in the country today, there are about 90-100 of them, — said the head of the Ministry of Health. — Of course, it is mainly neuromedicine that is developing now, because neuropharma already has certain regulatory processes that create limitations.
The use of artificial intelligence in medicine in Russia is spreading "at an incredible rate," the minister added.
— Almost every region already uses at least three or four such software products. And the number of registered medical devices is growing monthly," Murashko emphasized.
Neurotechnologies are also used in the field of mental health and physical rehabilitation.
— This includes the use of exoprostheses, various implants. Hearing replacement has already become a practice. The development of prosthetics of the eye organ is now beginning," he stressed.
In addition, there are more and more personal medical assistants, or so-called wearable devices. Now almost everyone uses "smart" gadgets, he noted, such as "smart watches" or "smart scales." And this area will see explosive growth in the coming years, the minister believes.
"At first, they only provided a monitoring function, but as soon as artificial intelligence began to appear and join this, new properties appeared in general," Mikhail Murashko explained. — He, in fact, begins to advise, form a certain model of sleep, nutrition, activity, and much more. Now there are new wearable devices that monitor brain activity and its energy consumption.
According to him, there is already a mechanism for regulating such products, since every product entering the market undergoes a registration procedure.
— This is essentially a confirmation of effectiveness and safety. Plus, we have a post-registration surveillance technique. If certain adverse events occur, we have the opportunity to restrict their access, or adjust the manufacturer or developer," he said.
Neurotechnologies will be increasingly used in various fields, but primarily in healthcare, said the Deputy director of the Medical Research and Educational Institute of Lomonosov Moscow State University, a leading researcher at the National Research Institute of Endocrinology. Academician I.I. Dedova of the Ministry of Health of Russia Maria Vorontsova. She moderated the session "Neoethics in the age of Neurotechnology."
— Neurotechnologies allow recording and transmitting to external devices the functional state of the human brain and the functional state of its central nervous system. And the question arises, is it possible now to look into a person's head, into his thoughts and read these thoughts? Or even to direct these thoughts, and hence the actions of a person? — She said.
The participants in the discussion wondered how far these "mind games" could go.
— Traditional bioethics cannot cope. And there is a clear need for neo—ethics," stressed Alexander Alimov, Executive Secretary of the Russian Federation for UNESCO.
Immediately during the discussion, a survey was conducted among the participants to see if they were concerned about the use of neurotechnology. As a result, only 15.9% of the respondents saw such a danger. 46.5% said they were not afraid, while the rest found it difficult to answer. The main thing is to approach such modifications responsibly.
— The use of such technologies — neurotechnologies — is basically impossible without interfering with the human nervous system. However, to what extent we can afford this intervention, and where we (or the researcher or the person applying it) say to ourselves: "Stop," in these technologies, we need to look at it on the spot," explained Maria Vorontsova.
Maria Vorontsova, Deputy Director of the Medical Research and Educational Institute of Moscow State University
New technologies in medicine require innovative approaches in the field of management. And on June 18, 2025, an agreement was signed on the sidelines of the forum, which should combine the scientific competencies of Moscow State University and the competence of the Skolkovo School of Management. It involves the launch of the educational program "Leaders of the future of healthcare."
"I am sure that students will be happy to take advantage of such opportunities, and the national healthcare system will be pleased with such new interdisciplinary competencies," Maria Vorontsova said during the signing ceremony.
Where else can neurotechnology be applied
If there is a clear regulation for the use of neurotechnologies in medicine, then there are no such mechanisms for other areas yet, Vsevolod Belousov, Director General of the Federal Center for Brain and Neurotechnology of the FMBA of Russia, drew attention.
"We cannot say that we are at least somewhat close to sticking a flash drive into some area of the sensory cortex and downloading a large amount of information, but neurotechnology can enhance and improve our ways of remembering information," he assured.
First of all, according to him, non-medical neurotechnology can be used in education. For example, there are already devices that can help a person focus by recording brain rhythms.
"We have experience using these technologies to stabilize the psycho—emotional and cognitive state of actually healthy elderly people,— he assured.
For example, such technologies are already available in the Moscow Longevity centers.
In addition, neurotechnologies can be used to monitor the condition of personnel, Vsevolod Belousov added.
— Using various technologies, such as eyetracking (tracking eye movement), biofeedback, psychological state can be monitored. This can be either a pre-shift checkup or periodic medical checkups. This can be very important if we see that a person is overworked or stressed, and he is a dispatcher at the airport," he explained.
Neurotechnologies can also be used in gaming, the military, and marketing, the expert emphasized. But the use of any neurotechnologies requires serious work to protect the data that can be collected with their help, he noted.
Long-term well-being
Digital technologies are now being actively used in medicine, Larisa Popovich, Director of the Institute of Health Economics at the Higher School of Economics, recalled at the session "Investing in Health: Expensive experiments and the long-term well-being of the state." According to her, they allow to prevent the occurrence of various diseases and contribute to an increase in life expectancy.
"However, attitudes towards health change depending on the generation," she stressed. People from generations Z and Y follow him the most.
Conducting genetic research on the population is also important in preventing diseases and increasing life expectancy, as well as using digital technologies, said Olesya Sagaidak, Deputy Director General of Evogen and researcher at the National Research Medical Center of Cardiology of the Ministry of Health. Knowing the predisposition to certain diseases allows you to adjust your lifestyle in advance, she added.
— Since 2019, Evogen has been working on the study of the genetic profile of employees of Russian companies. For example, Russian Railways or Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works," Olesya Sagaidak reminded. — To date, we have already conducted a study of 50,000 employees: 50% have been found to have a predisposition to diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, 5% to cancer.
In the long term, for example, after 10 years, conducting genetic research per thousand people will save about 840 million rubles, she added.
At the same time, Olesya Sagaidak noted the low medical literacy of doctors in terms of interpreting the results of the study, but stressed that the company cooperates with universities and medical organizations in terms of training doctors.
By 2035, the availability of digital and neurotechnologies, as well as biotechnological (vaccine development, genetic engineering, regenerative medicine), will increase, Kamila Zarubina, Managing Director of Biological and Medical Technologies, Deputy Chief Managing Director for Priority Technology Areas at the Skolkovo Foundation, is confident.
According to her, in 2024 biotechmed took the first place among venture investments.
Against the background of technology development and their active use in medicine, outpatient care may lose its relevance by 2035, Kamila Zarubina believes.
Modern technologies make it possible to lead a healthy lifestyle not only for the young, but also to count on a healthy and active old age, said Oksana Drapkina, Director of the NMC of Therapy and Preventive Medicine, chief freelance specialist in Therapy and General Medical Practice at the Ministry of Health.
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