Russia experiencing a shortage of unique drug against repeated heart attacks

Russia is experiencing a shortage of a unique drug against repeated heart attacks - Effient (prasugrel) from the American pharma major Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY), representative of the Russian Ministry of Health told the business newspaper Vedomosti, the Pharma Letter’s local correspondent reports.

According to representatives of Russian pharmacies, France-headquartered Servier (which is the official distributor of Effient in Russia) has recently notified its partners that the supplies of the drug to Russia were stopped in September 2023 and there are no plans to resume them. The current reserves of the drug will last for less than a month.

Still, representatives of the Russian Ministry of Health maintain some optimism, as, according to them, Effient can be replaced by some alternative drugs, of which supplies are currently ongoing to Russia. For example, according to them, Effient has an alternative in the form of drugs with the active ingredients clopidogrel, ticagrelor, etc, which are also indicated for the prevention of thrombotic complications.