Russian Drug Market Sales Plunge 33% In 2 Years

Drug sales on the Russian market are estimated to have declined by a third in the last two years, according to a report on the situation by the French consultancy group Eurosiris. This slump in sales is seen as further evidence of the implosion of the Russian economic and social system.

Between 1991 and 1993, drug sales to hospitals declined by only 11%, but pharmacy sales dropped 50%. The report says this is even more alarming than it appears, given that the state of health of the Russian population has also deteriorated in the last two years, with a multiplication of cases of diphtheria and a fresh rise in infant mortality.

Lower purchasing power is seen as one factor contributing to the present situation, but another factor singled out by the report is the collapse of the supply-side of the economy since the break-up of the USSR. Within the former system of division of labor in the COMECON economic group in eastern Europe, the production of drugs was assigned not to the USSR but to Hungary.