The company "Evalar" again became one of the 30 most successful and popular franchise buyers among the results of 2017. At the same time, in the yearly compiled RBC rating, "Evalar" for the year has significantly surrendered its positions: now the company occupies the 28th line, while a year ago it was at 20.

But in the media space the brainchild of Larissa Prokopieva is still in the lead. In the spring of this year, her company received the National Award in the field of media advertising Gold Print Awards as the best advertiser of print media in the category "Pharma". However, even here there is a fly in the ointment. Recently, Evalar significantly reduced its advertising budget, not on its own, but through the fault of the supervisory authorities, which repeatedly fined the company for misleading consumers and violating the Law on Advertising.

But Larissa Prokopieva does not seem to give up, and she, like an experienced player, always has a trump card in her sleeve. On "arrivals" of antimonopolists, "Evalar" responded with a significant expansion of its own pharmacy network, where no one will forbid it to advertise products under its own brand. And the construction of another plant in Biysk, where the firm of the Prokopiev family is registered with a design capacity of 6 billion tablets per year. That's just enough Altai grasses for such a grandiose production? Or the statement that the products "Evalar" is made from raw materials growing in this unique Russian region, the same myth as the effectiveness of dietary supplements?

FAS is on you!

The confrontation between Evalar and the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has been going on for many years and, if it had occurred to some writer to create a literary work based on it, labor in volume would compete with War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. Yes, and the curlicue of the plot, apparently, too.

Back in the mid-2000s, the FAS officially accused Evalar of unfair competition - then the company bought itself exclusive rights to the name "Red Root". In April 2009, the supervisory authority indicated that the advertising of the drug "Transit", created the impression that this dietary supplements has medicinal properties. Later, the advertisement of two more "Evalar" dietary supplements was found to be inadequate.

In 2011, FAS accused the company of violating the law "On Advertising". And again, because promoting his "Glycine Forte Evalar", the manufacturer again described him as if it was a medicine, not a food supplement. In the same year, the FAS demanded that Larisa Prokopieva stop distributing unreliable advertisements "Insulin Fort Evalar" and "AD minus".

But until 2013, when the law "On Advertising" was toughened, the company of Mrs. Prokopieva did not spare money to promote her goods. According to open sources, the advertising budget of Evalar at the time was 2.5 billion rubles, which was only 43 million less than the Coca-Cola beverage producer.

The effect of advertising was so powerful that even such a "trifle" discovered by Rosportechnadzor in 2013 in the products of "Evalar" dangerous substances for the sale of dietary supplements did not significantly affect. But the consumers of the "panacea" from the family of Prokopievs had something to think about - in the Sakhalin region, the supervisory authority found deadly arsenic in Blueberry Fort, and in Cherepovets in the Milona-9 preparation recorded ionizing radiation.

And although the family business continued to develop quite successfully, after 2013, to shamelessly deceive customers, promising them that the dietary supplement can cure the cold, even cancer, it became increasingly difficult. Yes, and the State Duma began to discuss the ban on the sale of biologically active additives, which could destroy the empire "Evalar".

Family lobbyist in parliament

In the same year, 2013 State Duma deputy Anton Belyakov proposed a draft law to parliamentarians toughening the promotion of dietary supplements, and at the same time fell with criticism of the products of Evalar. Moreover, the deputy did not need any special arguments to protect his position. It was enough to read out to the colleagues from the rostrum of the State Duma descriptions of the properties of the products compiled by the manufacturer himself. "Ovesol" - removes slag, prevents the formation of stones, "Endocrinol" - the apotheosis! - corrects the level of hormones, "Treychka Evalar" - about it you and I are told every day on all TV channels continuously - has a parasitogenic effect, although it is proved that this is not so. And finally aerobatics: "Shiitake" - prevention of oncological diseases. Well, do you have a conscience? "- Anton Belyakov was indignant.

In the air, as they say, the smell of fried. It took his man in the State Duma and he became Alexander Prokopiev - the son and business partner of the hostess "Evalar". In the parliament he was elected from United Russia.

About how he did it, there are still rumors. Local media, for example, wrote in 2016 that the results of the primaries were falsified. And some argue that the gopodin Prokopiev could simply buy himself the mandate of a State Duma deputy, remembering that in 2012, the company "Evalar" donated 10 million rubles to the party cashier of United Russia.

Once in the State Duma, Mr. Prokopiev, which is not surprising, began to work in the Committee on Health. Evil tongues claimed that the deputy is not interested in health care, but in protecting the interests of the family business. Maybe they are lying, but it's strange - in 2017 the State Duma unexpectedly from the dietary supplements, which stigmatized several years, suddenly switched to homeopathy.

With the family business, of course, the deputy had to part for a while - his shares in Pharmavest LLC and Trading House Evalar Ltd. were transferred to trust management, but apparently they did not go far, they remained in the family, judging by the names of the other founders.

However, only on lobbying abilities of the son Mrs. Prokopieva obviously did not hope and decided to make a new move - to develop a network of own pharmacies.

Your pharmacy is closer to business

Pharmacy chain "Evalar" proved to be quite effective means of promoting dietary supplements, partially compensating for losses from declining advertising on federal channels and in the media. The company does not hide that a significant increase in revenue in 2016 due to the increase in sales of drugs through pharmacies. Only in 2016 there were 44 new pharmacies called "Evalar", with most of the network working on a franchise - such a company in 2016 had 108 plus 29 ones. According to local media, the number of medical representatives of the company in the regions, that is, those who go to doctors and "unobtrusively" offers them to recommend their products to patients, has grown by one and a half times. Not free, apparently.

But, as they say, not pharmacies are single. There is also a media holding "Siberian Media Group" (SMG), owned by the family of Prokopievs. He, too, makes a feasible contribution to the promotion of BALs "Evalar". However, in 2016, he also began to have problems. In SMG have passed tax checks. And in the holding a lot of publications: "Resonance in Altai", information-analytical bulletin "PolitSibRu" and the agency "PolitSibRu-news", the magazine "Autograph", the newspaper "Moskovsky Komsomolets in Altai", "Komsomolskaya Pravda - Barnaul", "Arguments and facts - Altai "," Biysky Rabochiy "," Our News "TV company. And they have the lion's share of the turnover is advertising, which allows "Evalar", as some experts believe, to withdraw huge sums from own costs and thereby reduce taxes. But from the point of view of tax inspection it is a conscious reduction of the taxable base using gray schemes. Then, incidentally, Mrs. Prokopieva managed to fight off, "transferring" the arrows of public attention to the governor of the region, who suddenly began to criticize the media.

Altai herbs from China

In early 2017, "Evalar" announced that it is expanding its production. And begins construction of a new plant, which will produce up to 6 billion tablets and capsules per year. Experts immediately folded two and two and asked an obvious question. According to the advertisement, the company produces its dietary supplements solely on the basis of local Altai raw materials. This region in Russia is considered almost reserved and the most environmentally friendly, and therefore everything with the name "Altaic" is credible.

But with such volumes of production of drugs, the entire Altai should be sown exclusively with herbs for the needs of the company. What in the region, oddly enough, is not observed.

The secret is known at the Altai customs. As it turns out, the party of plants and their parts, including seeds and fruits, are coming from China. That is, what is used in the production of dietary supplements.

About the quality of these "ingredients" from China to talk too much. Since dietary supplements are not a medicine, the raw material for their production is not specifically checked, but only phytocontrol passes. The presence of harmful impurities or poisonous substances should be controlled by the manufacturers themselves, but for some reason it seems that the "Evalaru" is not up to it.

But even if we assume that raw materials from China are of high quality, Mrs. Prokopieva's company continues to bend its line. In advertising, promises to consumers Altai herbs, and uses in production of Chinese raw materials. I wonder how much the sales of "Evalar" products would have fallen, if every buyer knew that it was produced from Chinese herbs, it is not known where collected and how prepared?

However, it seems that Ms. Prokopieva will not stop at this. "Evalar" and deception, so it turns out, have long been synonymous. But so far neither FAS nor Rospotrebnadzor can stop this lawlessness.