Russians have rushed to stockpile antidepressants, sleeping pills and contraceptives among other products since the conflict in Ukraine began. This can be seen in the data released on Thursday (2/3/2022).
According to Reuters, the data showed that many Russians bought medicine for a month's reserve in just two weeks.
Although official opinion polls show most Russians support President Vladimir Putin's decision to send tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine, social media, interviews and anecdotal data suggest many Russians have been pressured by the severity of sanctions imposed on Moscow by the West. The sanctions are aimed at getting Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukraine.
On the other hand, many foreign brands have announced that they are suspending their operations or leaving Russia. In addition, the ruble against the dollar has fallen dramatically, and prices for many everyday products have soared since February 24 when Putin announced what he called "special operations" in Ukraine.
"I myself take L-thyroxine because I have problems with my thyroid gland, so I take it every day and I worry about it," says Valentina, a Moscow resident.
"That's why I bought those supplies for a few months beforehand because I was worried whether I would be able to find them in pharmacies later. Everywhere the demand for this drug is high," he added.
Sales data compiled by analytics firm DSM Group for the daily newspaper Vedomosti showed Russians had purchased 270.5 million drugs in pharmacies from February 28 to March 13 for 98.6 billion rubles ($1.04 billion).
That's almost comparable to sales data for the entire month of January when Russians bought 288 million items in pharmacies for 100 billion rubles.
The latest data, which does not mention specific brands, show an increase in the demand for foreign-made pharmaceuticals as well as for Russian-made products.
In particular, it represents a sharp increase in demand for antidepressants, sleeping pills, insulin, cancer and heart drugs, hormones and contraceptives.
"It was a signal of fear," Sergei Shulyak, general director of DSM Group, the company that collects the data, told Reuters.
"The first fear is that things could become more expensive and the second fear is that the medicines they need will not be available for some time. That fear moves people. They stand in line at the pharmacy and buy everything," he explained.
Shulyak, who says what he calls "hysteria" has occurred. He said there was now a temporary shortage of supplies of some medicines. However, he expects the situation to stabilize in time where Russian manufacturers can still produce generic drugs and many foreign manufacturers continue to produce to supply drugs to Russia. Although their products are now being sold at a higher price.
But he warned that deteriorating relations with the West meant some Russian drugmakers were having problems getting the ingredients they needed to make their products.
Several Russians said they were unaffected by the panic.
"There may be (disadvantages) especially if the medicine is imported, but I think it will all come back because politics is politics, economy is economy," said Vladimir, a Moscow resident.
"They (drug manufacturers) all need to sell, they all need to make a profit, so everything will come back," explains Vladimir.
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