The open selection of candidates for the post of Head of the State Service of Ukraine on Medicines and Drug Control (SDS), initiated by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, has come to an end.
The deadline for submitting resumes was May 18, and yesterday, May 25, Health Minister Alexander Kvitashvili, having reviewed the documents of 31 candidates, met with them and selected the seven most likely candidates.
The minister is expected to make the final selection today, May 26, after holding additional meetings with the candidates to discuss the SDS development program. "I will make a decision on the finalist shortly, based on my meetings with the candidates, their vision for the service's development, and the specific action plan they propose that will transform the SDS into a European-level structure," Kvitashvili stated.
The candidate he approves will have to be confirmed by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. Who are these candidates who will be interviewed again by the Minister of Health today?
The Ministry decided not to make this list public, but a source within the Ministry of Health provided us with the names of potential candidates, and we compiled a dossier on them.
1. Natalia Gudz - "representative of the expert community on pharmaceutical and GMP issues", worked at the company "Arterium".
In the pharmaceutical industry, she is considered a close associate of the former head of the State Service for Medicines and Drug Administration, Oleksiy Solovyov, who led her career advancement. Other sources believe she is a lobbyist for the interests of Petro Bagriy, president of the Ukrainian Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association.
Gudz is an official with extensive experience: since 1998, she worked in the Inspectorate for Quality Control of Medicinal Products of the Ministry of Health, in 2001-2005 and in 2010-2011 she held various positions in the State Service of Ukraine for Medicines and Drugs Control of Kyiv, and in 2012 she became the Head of the Kyiv State Service of Ukraine for Medicines and Drugs Control.
Her name is linked to a scandal involving the illegal dismissal of highly qualified young employees. These cases are now being referred to court.
Pharmacist sources describe her as intolerant and arrogant. They also say her office at the Kyiv State Service for Medicines occupied an entire floor, complete with its own dressing room and kitchen.
2. Sergey Guryev . Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor. Honored Doctor of Ukraine, Laureate of the State Prize of Ukraine in Science and Technology. Author of 273 scientific papers on medicine.
Well-known among specialists, yet completely private. In addition to his specialized expertise in orthopedics and traumatology, he also studied healthcare organization. Guryev has never held a government position or worked in pharmaceutical production. However, he is well-known among pharmacists, having long served as the head of the expert council (a collegial body of the State Service for Medicines and Drug Administration), where, together with a team of scientists and experts, he made decisions on the registration of medicinal products.
According to a source, Guryev has never held public office, and partly for this reason, he doesn't belong to any pharmaceutical lobby group. Therefore, the Ministry views him as a compromise figure.
3. Lev Litvinenko , former inspector of the State Service of Ukraine for Medicines and Drugs.
In 2005-2007 he worked as a referent at the State Training Center GMP/GDP, and in 2007-2010 as the director of Leone and Partners LLC.
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In 2010-11, as an inspector with the State Control Service of Kyiv, he inspected pharmaceutical wholesale and retail companies. He then returned as an inspector to the State GMP/GDP Training Center, where he was asked to resign due to his unwillingness to demonstrate integrity during inspections and to obtain objective data. While at the Training Center, he distinguished himself by lobbying for Indian anti-tuberculosis drugs under the direct orders of Deputy Minister of Health of Ukraine Roman Bogachev.
He is known for demanding business-class airline tickets and accommodation in a five-star hotel from subjects of inspections.
He is also called one of the organizers of Mikhail Pasichnik’s “garbage lustration”.
4. Vladislav Onishchenko , a former official in the field of drug quality control.
He has extensive experience working in various bodies in the pharmaceutical industry. From 2005 to 2008, he held the position of Deputy Chief State Inspector of Ukraine for Quality Control of Medicines, and from June 2005, he became Acting Chief State Inspector of Ukraine for Quality Control of Medicines.
According to our source, during this time he was involved in the implementation of corruption schemes together with the deputy head of the State Service for Medicines and Drug Control, Andrei Zakharash.
Since October 2009 - Chairman of the Board of the Union of Consumers of Medical Services, Medicines and Medical Products.
5. Rostislav Kartavtsev , General Director of the State Enterprise "Polytechmed" of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, which is responsible for assessing the conformity of medical devices and issues corresponding expert opinions.
A native of Donetsk, he has been linked at various times to various government officials: People's Deputy Tatyana Bakhteyeva, Head of the Main Directorate of Health Protection in the Dnipropetrovsk Region Valentina Ginzburg, and former head of the Ministry of Health Raisa Bogatyreva.
During the latter, he participated in the procurement procedures for ambulances under the scandalous 2013 tender.
6. Igor Pasternak , an Odessa businessman with ties to the pharmaceutical market, is a former Odessa health care official.
In 2006, he became director of the Odessa Regional State Administration's Public Enterprise "Odessaoblpharm." The enterprise was registered in December 2005. Its purpose was to supply psychotropic substances, narcotics, poisons, precursors, tranquilizers, and medical alcohol to healthcare facilities in the city and region.
He was also the director of the private company Elvlana LLC (Odessa), which was engaged in the retail sale of medicines and was liquidated in 2009 by court order.
He is listed as the head of the company Odvist LLC, which has been supplying medical products under its own brand to Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Transnistria, and Belarus since 2006.
Among his patrons, the media named Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Tabachnik, who lobbied for his interests in the Ministry of Health.
7. Valeriy Stetsiv , the only representative from the Western region, has experience working at all levels of regulatory work in the pharmaceutical industry.
Until 2005, he served as the head of the State Inspectorate for Quality Control of Medicines in the Rivne Oblast. From 2005 to 2009, he then transferred to the central office of the State Inspectorate for Quality Control of Medicines, and from 2009 to 2010, he was the head of the State Service for Medicines in Kyiv. From 2010 to 2012, he became the director of the Department of Regulatory Policy in the Sphere of Medicines Circulation at the Ministry of Health, where he was involved in a scandal related to the ban on ketamine used by veterinarians.
Sources call him "Minister Zinovy Mytnik's man," who is now, most likely, like Gudz, lobbying for the interests of Pyotr Bagriy.
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