Between January and September 2018, Russia imported 376.6 bln RUB worth of ready-made pharmaceutical drugs (free circulation prices), which is in monetary terms 1% higher than that of the same period of 2017, and 81.1 bln RUB worth of in-bulk drugs, which is 16% higher than that of the same period of 2017. The total dynamics in monetary terms are +3.3%.

In physical terms, Russia imported 1.35 bln units of ready-made units or 24.8 bln minimum dosage units (MDU), which is 8.6% and 6% lower than that of the same period of 2017, respectively. The dynamics of the in-bulk import in physical terms is +1.2% (3.2 bln MDU.) The total dynamics is -5.3%.

The September results are not that promising. In September 2018, Russia imported 38 bln RUB worth of ready-made pharmaceutical drugs, which is 16.2% lower than that of the same period of 2017, and 9.9 bln RUB worth of in-bulk drugs, which is 47.3% higher than that of the same period of 2017. However, it is ready-made drugs that tend to be in high demand during fall.

Among the top 20 countries that import ready-made drugs to Russia, Ireland has the highest increase over the period (by 1.8 times), mostly thanks to complement inhibitor Soliris (by Alexion), which accounts for nearly 30% of the import. As for in-bulk drugs, Finland has the highest increase (by 3.3 times), while importing only Metypred and Tamoxifen (by Orion.)

The importing countries list has not seen any new names this year, and lost four of the old ones. Cuba used be the top importer, in particular in 2017 it imported 261 mln RUB worth of Heberprot-P and Ebermin (customs clearance prices.)

Dynamics of import of pharmaceuticals, including homeopathic and seawater drugs, to Russia, free circulation prices including customs clearance and VAT, RUB (January 2017 – September 2018)