Pills from radioactive poisoning lit up in courts
In Russia, the production of the components of the Ferrocin drug, which is used to combat poisoning with radionuclides and heavy metals, is under threat. The Sverdlovsk manufacturer of the active substance – the company “Eksorb” – faced the risks of bankruptcy against the backdrop of a conflict of owners and a redistribution of influence in the company. According to General Director Viktor Remez, the company has a number of know-how, including the production of sorbents for cleaning solutions from contamination with radionuclides, which it is trying to sell to Russian and foreign nuclear power plants. The change of control in the company, according to its management, will allegedly lead to a leak of unique developments to the EU countries, where former partners, apparently, are trying to establish their own technology for neutralizing liquid radioactive waste. However, representatives of the market do not consider the achievements of the Yekaterinburg company in the field of LRW management to be innovative, pointing to the presence of a wide range of manufacturers of similar products in Russia and competitors in the structure of Rosenergoatom. At the same time, some of the owners of Exorba hope to sell their shares to an influential concern and thereby settle the corporate conflict.
The Yekaterinburg Scientific and Production Enterprise Eksorb LLC, which has a number of scientific developments, may change its main owner in the near future. Currently, 35% of the company’s authorized capital is assigned to the company’s director Viktor Remez, 5% each – to Mikhail and Evgeny Remez. 25% is owned by Alexey Gerasimov, 23% by Vadim Tsyvyan, 5% by Evgeniya Zheltonozhko, 2% by Trebitsh Shandor. At the moment, the share of Vadim Tsyvyan is put up for auction with a starting price of 3.6 million rubles.
The main owner, Viktor Remez, refuses to acquire this share, declaring that he has no funds, but he expresses personal fears that it will be bought out by Alexei Gerasimov, and subsequently the company may lose a number of know-how. Gerasimov himself, in a conversation with reporters, told Pravda UrFO that he did not intend to buy 23%, and declined to comment further.
It is worth noting that the co-founder can gain control over the enterprise in another way. At present, a bankruptcy lawsuit has been filed on his part against NPP Eksorb. So far, as part of the dispute, they have been claimed for 6 million rubles. At the same time, in the arbitration court, Alexei Gerasimov, in the interests of the company, demands the recovery of about 20 million rubles from Viktor Remez and Evgenia Zheltonozhko, believing that the co-founders caused damage to the company for this amount.
According to the interlocutors of the publication, the conflict of owners has been going on for a long time and does not allow the company to participate in bidding for the supply of products to Rosatom.
According to Victor Remez, Eksorb has developed a unique sorbent for neutralizing solutions containing radionuclides. To promote the development on the Russian and international markets, Alexey Gerasimov was invited to the company as a partner, allocating funds for testing at nuclear power plants. Eksorbom signed an agency agreement with Metoil (founded by Igor Voinov), which Remezov considers to be acting in the interests of Gerasimov.
“The production technology of our sorbent is unique, this is our know-how. We were offered to launch its production in the Czech Republic, but we refused. Our products aroused interest, they were used to eliminate the consequences of the Fukushima accident. In 2020, we learned that Metoil received a patent (for 1.3 million euros) for the development of a technology for processing LRW. At the same time, for the report, the company, apparently, provided our equipment developments and, probably, our sorbent samples. In fact, it appropriated our development,” Victor Remez describes his vision of the history of the conflict.
Further, Eksorb informed foreign partners about the emerging situation – the Spanish Condorchem Envitech and the American AVANTech Inc. – after which financial disputes arose with Alexei Gerasimov, which are still ongoing. With the beginning of the special operation, cooperation with foreign partners in the Yekaterinburg company was suspended. However, in Russia it is still not possible to sell the sorbent, the annual production of which the company is able to increase to 100 tons. Although in 2018-2020, the All-Russian Research Institute for the Operation of Nuclear Reactors studied the possibility of using Exorba products at the Kola and Beloyarsk NPPs, supplies to these facilities are carried out by other manufacturers. So, for example, they are supplied to the BNPP by Inorganic Sorbents JSC (located in Zarechny, Sverdlovsk Region, 100% of the authorized capital belongs to Rosenergoatom JSC).
In the meantime, Exorba considers its own sorbents to be more effective than those of its competitor. Sources of the publication, close to the manufacturer from Zarechny, however, do not agree with this position, and the technology for neutralizing LRW is not considered unique at all.
The Yekaterinburg manufacturer previously considered the possibility of merging production with Inorganic Sorbents, but, according to the interlocutors of the publication, this proposal did not reach the decision makers at Rosenergoatom. Nevertheless, the owners of Exorba retain hope for the sale of shares to the structures of the state corporation.
The director of Exorba also emphasizes the need to preserve the enterprise and scientific developments in connection with the release of the active substance for the production of the drug Ferrocin (used for intoxication with cesium, rubidium and thallium, as well as uranium fission products when they enter the gastrointestinal tract with food ). This year, the company has already supplied substances for the production of 200,000 packs of tablets under a contract with FSUE SPC Pharmzashchita (part of the FMBA). In Russia, Eksorb, the company emphasizes, is the only manufacturer of the main component of the drug. Although there are also foreign analogues of Ferrocin on the market.
It should be noted that, taking into account the WHO recommendations, the purchase of Ferrocin can be increased. In January, the organization announced the expansion of the list of drugs aimed at reducing and preventing the effects of radiation, and recommended increasing their stocks. The list, in particular, includes chelating agents: Ca / Zn-DTPA and Prussian blue – the main component of Ferrocin. So far, Eksorb continues to produce the component as planned.