From January to June 2022, the import of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) to Russia amounted to 106.4 billion rubles (in prices taking into account the cost of customs clearance and VAT). In rubles, the y-o-y change was 3.7%. This is the lowest for the last five years. Natural volumes, on the contrary, are hitting new highs: deliveries increased by 21% y-o-y, which is the best result in the last 12 years. In total, almost 10,000 tons of pharmaceutical substances were imported into the Russian Federation in the first six months of the year, RNC Pharma reports.
The relatively small change in rubles was mainly due to deflation in the pharmaceutical raw materials market. A significant increase in the quantity of shipments is associated, firstly, with growing activity of domestic producers, and secondly, with a natural desire to form reserves of raw materials in this difficult historical period.
The results of pharmaceutical raw materials supply for June 2022 are very different when described in monetary terms and in kind. The values in rubles fell compared to June 2021 (-14%). However, it is necessary to take into account the deflation factor already mentioned above and the fact that due to the launch of a special military operation, the usual seasonal factors did not actually work this year. The growth in natural units was significant: shipments in tons increased by 57% over the year.
In total, 583 APIs were supplied to our country in Q1 and Q2 of 2022, which is 13 more than a year earlier. In monetary terms, the absolute leader among products in the analyzed period was Rebamipide: deliveries increased 121 times y-o-y (in rubles). However, in terms of the total volume of deliveries, the product is not even in the top 30. The company that accounted for most of the shipments was Pro.Med.Ts, which, starting from March 2022, localized the production of Rebagit at the facilities of ZiO-Zdorovie in Podolsk, near Moscow.
The impressive growth in rubles is also demonstrated by Bismuth Tripotassium Dicitrate (an increase of 11.8 times), for which the bulk of shipments was provided by Astellas, and the industrial partner is also ZiO-Zdorovie. It is worth noting the increase in the supply of Moxonidine (by 10.6 times); not only has the product demonstrated impressive dynamics, but also, interestingly, its contract production was transferred from Kazakhstan to Russia. Until March 2022, the drug was produced at the facilities of the Nobel Almaty Pharmaceutical Factory, and in June this year, all the forms are made at the Veropharm enterprise in Belgorod.
Nifedipine demonstrated one of the record high indicators in terms of natural supply dynamics in Q1 and Q2 of 2022. Deliveries in tons increased 450 times y-o-y, the entire volume being imported for Protek-SVM, and the final recipient and manufacturer of the finished dosage form was apparently Ozon plant. Another record holder is Pyrantel: shipments increased 227 times over the year, with most of this pharmaceutical substance also purchased by Ozon.
Earlier, RNC Pharma reported that the volume of payments in rubles for the supply of foreign medicines has decreased.
