In January—August 2021, Russian manufacturers produced RUB 384.7 bln worth of pharmaceutical drugs (manufacturer’s prices, VAT included), up 23.2% from January—August 2020. In physical terms, the production volume amounts to 2.65 billion packages, with the growth rate of -14.7%. If calculated in minimum dosage units (MDU), the growth rate is -5%, and the production volume is 51.2 billion MDUs.

In January—August 2021, the sales of veterinary drugs in the Russian retail market amounted to 15 billion rubles (retail prices, VAT included), up 5.5% in monetary terms (rubles) from January—August 2020. The inflation rate is still the most important factor for the growth rates. In physical terms, the sales declined, and the growth rate in minimum dosage units (MDU) was 5.1%, with the sales volume of 116.1 million MDUs.

The analyst firm RNC Pharma has announced the start of the project “Ranking of Russian Logistics Operators.” The project is being implemented for the first time in order to give a true picture of logistics services in the Russian pharmaceutical market.

More than half of the pharmacists (53%) who took part in the survey conducted by the RNC Pharma analyst firm and the Doktor Na Rabote (Doctor at Work) social media service for doctors believe that “general distrust of government campaigns” is the reason for the development of the anti-vaccination movement. Although the anti-vaccine sentiment does have a long history, the coronavirus pandemic, a set of measures to counter the spread of the virus and rather clumsy activities that were meant to get people to vaccinate were a huge push.

From January to June 2021, the total volume of the online sales or reservation of pharmacy products (pharmaceutical drugs and parapharmaceuticals) in Russia amounted to 94.2 million rubles (end-user prices, VAT included), 28.5% up from the first two quarters of 2020, while the total growth rates of the Russian pharmaceutical retail for the period could not get out of the negative zone (-0.5%). Even that would not have been possible without Rx drugs, which are not yet allowed to be sold online. The growth rates of the sales of the other product groups are -5.9%. The share of e-com sales in the total volume of Russian pharmaceutical retail increases due to the outstripping growth rates, amounting to 14%*, 3.2% higher than a year earlier.

61% of the Russian pharmacists who took part in an online survey by the RNC Pharma analyst company and the Doktor Na Rabote (Doctor at Work) social media service for doctors said they had been vaccinated against COVID-19. Male respondents tended to choose this answer more often (67%) than female ones (53%). However, no statistically significant age differences were found.

Katren acquiring a controlling stake in the Erkapharm chain is set to be the highlight event of 2021 for the Russian pharmaceutical retail. This deal is of interest first and foremost not because it is a big one and the first of its kind, but because it has launched active consolidation processes in the industry, and other wholesale companies can hardly stay away from these trends.