An Obvious False Claim Made: Anahit Avanesyan

The Minister of Health of Armenia, Anahit Avanesyan, has commented on a recent publication by a website named London Times, stating that an obvious false claim has been made regarding the "clinical trials conducted in Armenia."

“In connection with that obviously defamatory article, I want to provide clarification to avoid unnecessary speculation and to give the public proper information. Thus, clinical trials of pharmaceutical products in Armenia are regulated by the ‘Law on Medicines’ and other legal acts derived from it. Specifically, according to Article 14, Parts 2 and 3 of the Law and the Armenian Government’s Decision No. 168-N dated February 28, 2019, the permission to conduct clinical trials is granted by the Ministry of Health of Armenia, confirming the trial program and accompanying documents based on a positive conclusion from the expert organization established by the Government of the Republic of Armenia and the positive conclusion of the Clinical Trials Ethics Committee (hereinafter the Ethics Committee).

Among the pharmaceutical companies mentioned in the article (STADA, SERVIER, SANOFI, BAYER), only Servier has applied for permission to conduct clinical trials from 2018 to 2025, which has no relation to 'steroids and psychoactive substances,' as well as the 'vulnerable groups' indicated in the article. As for the Pervitin drug mentioned in the same article, it has not been registered and has never existed in Armenia, and no application for clinical research has ever been submitted.”

Overall, the data mentioned in the article are absolutely fictitious and do not correspond to reality,” the minister wrote.