Significant increase in pharmaceutical substances imports this year in Russia

Russian drugmakers and foreign companies operating in the country have significantly increased the volume of pharmaceutical substances imports this year, a spokesman for Veronika Skvortsova, Russia’s Minister of Health, recently said, reports The Pharma Letter’s local correspondent..

For the six months of 2017, 6,500 tonnes of substances were imported to Russia with a total value of 28.8 billion roubles (~$485 million). This is 16% more than in the same period of last year in value and almost 26% higher in volume terms.

The main reason for this is the decline of the US dollar, compared to the Russian rouble, as well as the growth of local production, including at the facilities of global drugmakers.