In October and November, Russia experienced a severe shortage of medicines. People cannot find antibiotics, antiviral drugs and even simple vitamins. They search for them in groups on social networks and on pharmacy websites, and ads for the sale of medicines appear on “Avito”, where they are quickly deleted.
How do Russians look for scarce medicines? Irina, from the Moscow region, took “Aquadetrim” (vitamin D3) throughout her pregnancy as prescribed by her doctor and had no problems buying the medication. Her daughter, who was born in the fall, was also prescribed the same medication “because she was born during a period without sunlight,” but in November, Irina couldn’t find the medication in nearby pharmacies. She could only place an online order to be picked up in another city. The next day, however, she received a call informing her that the medication was “not available and will not be available. “It is not surprising that vitamin D has disappeared – everywhere it is written that it helps in the prevention and treatment of coronavirus,” says Anton Buzdalin, the CEO of the drug search service eApteka.ru. “I decided it’s no big deal. We lived without it [vitamin D] before – and now we will live,” says Irina. – Irina says.
If you can do without vitamin D, other patients talk about a severe lack of medications – from antibiotics to drugs to treat oncological diseases. Moscow resident Ivan (name changed) fell ill in the fall with “something like a coronavirus” and was treated at home. The doctor treating him remotely advised him to get an injection of the common antibiotic ceftriaxone because Ivan’s temperature did not drop for more than five days. The danger was that during the summer, he had a regular non-coronavirus pneumonia, and his lungs were weakened. The pharmacy did not have the medication, so they used regular antipyretics to lower the temperature. In the end, they managed to get the medicine from acquaintances who had stocked up in advance. “It is true that they searched for so long that the doctors said it was possible to do without antibiotics,” Ivan says.
Ceftriaxone is an antibiotic included in the recommendations of the Ministry of Health of Russia for the treatment of coronavirus infection. However, it is also used for other infections, including those of the gastrointestinal tract and pelvic organs. Other antibiotics such as azithromycin and levofloxacin have also become scarce – all are recommended by the Ministry of Health as part of coronavirus therapy. “The deficit is related to the hype around COVID, unfortunately, the population prefers to stock up on drugs in advance, which is fundamentally wrong. I would like to remind you that antibiotics are a drug that should be prescribed by a doctor. There are no over-the-counter antibiotics. If everything was prescribed, there would be no hype. Apparently, they are sold without a prescription,” says Alexander Filippov, CEO of the Rigla pharmacy chain.
According to experts, drugs are first delivered to hospitals and then to pharmacies. Drugs that thin the blood and prevent the formation of blood clots have also disappeared from pharmacies. The most popular of these drugs is “Clexane”. Women with increased blood viscosity are prescribed it during pregnancy. If they do not take it, they may lose the baby. “This Klaxan is a nightmare. Today I bought the last one in town, tomorrow my husband will go to another town to buy another one. We reserved it on the website. That’s all.” – writes one of the users of the site Baby.ru (spelling preserved).
“Since April, Klexan has been included in the recommendations of the Ministry of Health for the treatment of patients with coronavirus. Which drugs have disappeared from pharmacies but are still in demand? Online pharmacy eApteka.ru provided the Russian service of the BBC with data on which drugs have been most frequently searched for on its website – and which are currently unavailable. Four of the top ten most sought-after and scarce drugs are antibiotics. Demand for drugs is reflected in Google searches. According to Google Trends data, interest in coronavirus drugs that were very popular at the beginning of the pandemic, such as favipiravir and hydroxychloroquine, is no longer as high. However, the popularity of antibiotics, such as ceftriaxone, has surged. The number of listings should remain the same: Those buyers who can not find the necessary medicine, search for it online.
In September, Moscow resident Inna underwent IVF (in vitro fertilization). She needed “Klexane”. She bought the drug from a girl through an ad on the service “Avito” – the girl had left it after her pregnancy. New ads on the websites “Avito” and “Yula” could not be found by the Russian BBC service. The Russian BBC service was informed by “Avito” that they block advertisements for the sale of medicines. “We urge our users to take care of their health, follow preventive measures and buy medicines in pharmacies only if prescribed by a doctor,” the company said. On the forum Baby.ru there is a post of a girl who sent money for “Clexane” to scammers. “For the first time I fell for a scam because of stupid circumstances. And I quickly realized that I was being cheated, but I realized it too late. I should have checked earlier. But I noticed that when I am pregnant, I sometimes become stupidly absent-minded… I’ve already cried, but it’s no use, I can’t get my money back. That’s how it is, “buying” Clexane, which does not exist anywhere in the VK groups,” she writes (spelling preserved).
In addition to the high demand for medicines, the supply of medicines to pharmacies was hampered by the drug labeling that became mandatory for all medicines this summer. All participants in the supply chain, including 85% of pharmacies, had to enter data on the movement of goods into the system and wait for a response. This slowed down the drug delivery process significantly. In addition, according to market participants, the first drugs are obtained from the warehouses of state medical institutions, and only then do the drugs go to pharmacies. To solve this problem, the government temporarily changed the labeling rules: it now operates in a notification mode. Pharmacies and distributors do not have to wait for the response of the labeling system before selling the goods. On November 3, the government passed a resolution to this effect. According to the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov, the operator of the system is the Center for Development of Promising Technologies (CDPT) – thanks to which “the work of the system has increased 12 times, including the improvement of documentation”. However, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said on November 9 at a meeting of the Presidium of the Coordinating Council for Combating Coronavirus that the system is not yet working perfectly. “But I would like to note that the rapid conclusion of contracts and contact between manufacturers and distribution and pharmaceutical medical organizations still require additional adjustments,” he said.