Russian Health Ministry has issued a license for the medication to treat COVID-19. The drug Levilimab (having the invented name Ilsira) is produced by the BIOCAD company. Initially, the drug was developed for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.
How is the manufacturer of the drug for the treatment of COVID-19 connected with the son of Yury Chaika, Presidential Envoy to the North Caucasian Federal District who previously occupied the post of Russia’s Prosecutor General? Who helps the company with receiving state orders from the Moscow City Hall?
ZAO Biocad is a legal entity of the BIOCAD company. It was established by Biocad Holding Ltd, an offshore company registered in Cyprus. The media usually associates it with billionaire Victor Kharitonin, the owner of Pharmstandard, a Russian producer of pharmaceuticals. However, it owns only 20% of Biocad Holding. Dmitry Morozov, the company's founder, controls 30%, and Valery Yegorov has the largest stake (50%).
There is almost no publicly available information about Yegorov. The media usually mention him as “the partner of Kharitonin.” However, as wek.ru found out, Yegorov has more powerful acquaintances.
The main owner of BIOCAD was born in Petropavlovsk, Kazakhstan, in 1968. Our reporters managed to learn his wife’s name, Svetlana Yegorova. We also found out her personal tax reference number 773371534672. It turned out that it was the mysterious Svetlana Yegorova, who became a partner of Igor Chaika in the garbage collection business last year.
In the spring of 2019, Igor Chaika gave Yegorova a share in Ecogroup. Today, she owns 29.17% of Chaika’s business.
Through Ecogroup, Chaika and Yegorova control the Khartia company, the largest waste removal and recycling operator in Moscow. The firm has earned 45.5 bln rubles ($653,835,000) in public procurement alone.
Before entering this large business project, Yegorova ran the Sletlyachok private kindergarten in the Moscow region. Reports say she also acted on behalf of the Russkaya Usadba company registered to a front person. Formally, this company belonged to Invest-Auto, a business entity with a multiple founder at the head. The latter man, a certain Valentin Yakovlev is in charge of 658 companies and owns another 205 companies.
Natalia, the daughter of the Yegorovs, drives a Porsche Cayenne. The co-owner of BIOCAD has a Lexus. Since the annual profit of Biocad reaches 7.5 bln rubles ($107,775,000), the family can afford expensive cars. Not least because of the state contracts.
In total, together with its subsidiary, the company earned 47 bln rubles ($675,390,000) on public procurement. Moscow’s Health Department is the largest customer of Biocad.
Biocad often gets contracts in bypass of all bidding contests. Thus, on June 3, the last contract worth 1.18 mln rubles ($16,899.12) was signed by the company with the Alexander Hospital in St. Petersburg for the delivery of Interferon Beta-1B solution. The purchase was made with a single supplier, without any bidding procedures.
Biocad-Pharm, a branch of Biocad, gets the bulk of its earnings from transactions with the Federal Health Ministry, the very same Health Department of Moscow and its subordinates. For example, the company signed a contract worth 32.2 mln rubles ($462,714) with the Moscow City Cancer Hospital No. 62 for the supply of the Avegra Biocad drugs. According to the terms of the contract, one package of 400 ml. of the medicine costs 24,609 rubles ($353.63) for the hospital. According to the portal FARMindex, exactly the same drug might be found cheaper at Moscow’s pharmacies. Its retail price is 19,950 rubles ($286.68) at the Burdenko Pharmacy or 17,800 rubles ($255.79) at the EuroPharm pharmacy. Other specialized sites (for example, AptekaMos) also offer this drug at prices lower than it costs upon the results of public procurement.
The success of Viktor Kharitonin, another Biocad co-owner, in the segment of state orders is usually attributed to his friendship with Viktor Khristenko, the former Industry Minister and husband of Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova, who previously headed the Ministry of Health.
Interestingly, Roman Abramovich was once a partner of Kharitonov as well. He also had a stake in BIOCAD.
Kharitonin, “the King of Arbidol [an anti-flu drugs highly popular in Russia],” is one of the richest people in the country. He owns an Audi TT and a Maybach. Forbes estimates his welfare worth at $2.3 bln. Over the past year, Kharitonin's fortune increased by $1.1 bln. This was largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which created a favorable situation for the pharmaceutical market.
Additionally, Kharitonin and Yegorov are the shareholders of Aresbank. The name of the bank comes from the name of Ares, the ancient Greek god of war. It is hard to say that Kharitonin and Yegorov have cornered the banking market, but they were quite successful on the pharmaceutical market. wek.ru also scrutinized the information about other shareholders of the bank and found out that a14% stake in it belongs to a certain Andrei Lukyanov. A person with this full name works as a senior expert for the department of procurement planning of the Moscow City Health Department. He is likely to be the partner of the “pharm kings.” Lukyanov who lives on the public payroll declared a 52.2 sq.m. apartment which he sold in 2014.
wek.ru found out that it is located at Yelninskaya street, 5. Due to this information, we have established the date of birth of Lukyanov from the Ministry of Health (July 04, 1972.)
According to the securities prospectus of Pharmstandart for 2006, a person with the same full name and year of birth was the CEO of Fitofarm-NN. Additionally, this person was the founder of Decors M, through which he controls the stake in Aresbank.
It turns out that the owners of BIOCAD win multibillion state contracts from the Health Department of the Moscow Mayor’s Office while their partner at the bank is responsible for the public procurement in the Health Department. Add to it that Lukyanov was a subordinate of Kharitonin during his work at Fitofarm-NN from 2003 to 2008. At that time, the firm was owned by Kharitonin.
Tatyana Dubrovskaya, the former State Duma Deputy, who previously worked at the group of companies of billionaire Oleg Deripaska, is also among the original founders of BIOCAD. Now she enjoys life in Moscow's Golden Mile, a residential area between the riverbanks of the Moscow River and Ostozhenka Street. According to an extract from the Federal Service for State Registration, Cadastral Records and Cartography (Rosreestr) available to the editorial office, she owns an apartment in the building No. 15 in Kursovoi Lane.
Dmitry Morozov, the founder and CEO of the company, earns on public procurement with the help of his other companies as well. Hovernetic, the ship repair facility, has received 53.6 mln rubles ($770,232) on state contracts, mainly from the Defense Ministry. His IT companies Techlab and Modum Lab get money from the Health Ministry as well.
Morozov decided to spend the money from the Russian budget funds on the construction of a Buddhist temple in Lumbini. He has established a special foundation for this project, which is being implemented in collaboration with the government of Nepal.