Kommersant: OPI warned of a seasonal shortage of drugs for COVID-19, flu and colds Roszdravnadzor on the seasonal shortage of drugs for COVID-19, flu and colds in pharmacies. This is reported by the newspaper “Kommersant” with reference to a letter from the chairman of the OPI Oleg Pavlov to the supervisory department with a request to Roszdravnadzor to take measures to suppress the situation.
– why prices for drugs are growing against the background of shortages. Pavlov notes that the situation is aggravated by the fact that 80 percent of pharmacies continue to freely sell prescription drugs.
The OPI claims that interruptions have already begun in the supply of a number of drugs recommended by the Ministry of Health for the treatment of coronavirus (favipiravir, paracetamol, umifenovir, apixaban, rivaroxaban). According to the organization, the most difficult situation is in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Tatarstan, Volgograd, Nizhny Novgorod and Novosibirsk regions. Against this background, over the past three months, prices for popular drugs have increased by 5-10 percent.
Pharmaceutical companies and pharmaceutical retailers cite the rise in the cost of raw materials as the reason for the rise in prices for drugs. Nikolay Bespalov, Development Director of RNC Pharma, noted that in January-September of this year, prices for medicines in the Russian Federation increased by 7.1 percent. He also admits that in the future there may be a shortage of drugs from the list of vital and essential drugs (VED), the price of which does not change. “Their production is becoming unprofitable,” he noted.
Oleg Pavlov, in turn, claims that pharmaceutical retailers have not increased their stocks of drugs for the second year already, especially those included in the VED list, since the benefits from them are minimal … The chairman of the OPI expects that increased control by Roszdravnadzor over the OTC dispensing of drugs will help at least reduce the pressure on the rush demand market.
Earlier, the Federation Council proposed to consider adding drugs against COVID-19 to the list of vital and essential medicines. Chairperson of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko noted that it is necessary to think about this, among other things, due to the drop in incomes of Russian citizens.