Russia facing shortage of drugs against rheumatoid arthritis

The widespread use of drugs for autoimmune diseases against COVID-19 in Russia has led to a decrease in the availability of these drugs among patients with rheumatoid arthritis and forced them to buy these drugs at their own expense.

According to pharma analytics firm DSM Group, sales of 19 drugs for the treatment of autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, in the first ten months of this year grew 22.7% year-on-year, to 2.86 billion roubles ($38.7 million).

The biggest growth was observed for drugs based on dexamethasone (+54%), methylprednisolone - by 34%, prednisolone - by 30%. In January-October, sales of the expensive Xeljanz (tofacitinib), produced by Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), increased by 165%, with an average cost of 49,000 roubles ($667) per package.