This text is an automatic translation from Русский. It was generated by AI and may contain inaccuracies.
Read original →From Targeted Localization to Full-Cycle Production: Can Russia Achieve Pharmaceutical Self-Sufficiency?
Analysis of Russia's pharmaceutical market in 2024: domestic drugs reached 75-80% share by volume, progress in generic production, and persistent dependence on imported active pharmaceutical ingredients. Prospects for the Pharma 2030 strategy.
AI summary
The Russian pharmaceutical market in 2024 grew to 2.8 trillion rubles, with 75-80% of medicines in physical terms already being produced in Russia and the EAEU. The main progress has been achieved in the generics segment, but critical dependence on imports of active pharmaceutical ingredients (more than 75%) and science-intensive drugs remains, especially in oncology and biotechnology.
Balance of Power
The Russian pharmaceutical market reached a volume of more than 2.8 trillion rublesin 2024, posting year-on-year growth of 10.5%. At first glance, the sales structure appears to reflect an imbalance working against domestic pharma: roughly 55% of the market in value terms comes from imported drugs. At the same time, if you measure the market not in rubles but in package units, the picture changes fundamentally. As Viktor Dmitriev, CEO of the Association of Russian Pharmaceutical Manufacturers (ARFP) and chairman of the public council at Roszdravnadzor, noted in conversation with Argument Media, in physical terms around 75-80% of Russia's medicines are produced within the country or in EAEU member states. This gap between value and volume metrics is explained by the significantly lower prices of domestic drugs compared to their foreign counterparts.
The sustainability of local production development is confirmed by trends in recent years. In 2019, the share of Russian drugs in physical terms stood at 61.3%, while in monetary terms it was around 31%. Over six years, the market has demonstrated not only quantitative growth in local production, but also proportional strengthening in the value segment. This indicates a steady consolidation of domestic manufacturers' positions.
That said, it would be incorrect to view localization as a uniform phenomenon: in pharmaceuticals it has several levels, each requiring separate analysis.
Generics — The Pharma Market's Engine
The logistical difficulties that emerged after 2022 largely became a driver of growth in the generics market. What increased was not only sales volumes of Russian analogs, but also the share of bioequivalence studies, which are necessary to confirm their therapeutic equivalence to original drugs. By 2024, this share reached , whereas back in 2021 the figure stood at 41%.