Pharmacy sales of hangover remedies in both volume and monetary terms grew by more than a quarter in 2025, writes RBK citing data from DSM Group.
Over the 10 months of 2025, the number of sold drug packages increased by 27% compared to the same period in 2024, reaching 1.96 million packages. Sales volume in monetary terms grew by 27% to 803 million rubles. These are the highest figures in three years. The average price of a package in early November was 410 rubles, almost the same as in 2024. A more substantial price increase of nearly one-third occurred a year earlier: from 308 rubles in early November 2023 to 407 rubles by the same month in 2024.
The best-selling remedy for symptoms of excessive alcohol consumption this year was Alka-Seltzer (citric acid + sodium bicarbonate) from Germany’s Bayer. From January to October, 450,000 packages were sold for 333 million rubles. In volume terms, the drug holds a 23% share of the hangover remedy market, and in monetary terms, 41%.
Nikolay Bespalov, Development Director of the analytical company RNC Pharma, notes that consumers often use drugs originally intended for other purposes to treat hangover symptoms. These include adsorbents such as Enterosgel and Polisorb, meldonium products, and medications for treating alcohol dependence containing metadoxine.
The growth in demand for anti-hangover products is occurring against a backdrop of declining alcohol sales. According to Rosalkogoltabakkontrol (the Federal Service for Alcohol Market Regulation), retail sales of alcoholic products (excluding beer, beer beverages, cider, poire, and mead) from January to November 2025 decreased by 9.8% year-on-year to 182 million decaliters. Vodka sales fell by 3.5% (to 66.3 million decaliters), wine by 1.5% (to 50.7 million decaliters), and low-alcohol beverages by eight times to 1.45 million decaliters.
Mikhail Burmistrov, General Director of INFOLine Analytics, believes that sales of hangover remedies are growing due to the trend towards a healthy lifestyle. Arthur Gafarov, head of the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Economic Development, adds that the average consumer in the market is getting younger, and anti-hangover products could have attracted the Generation Z (“zoomers”), who generally drink less. At the same time, demand for such medicines could have increased among the millennials, who are getting older and need such drugs, he specifies.
Here’s another angle from Burmistrov: with jobs getting more competitive, people can’t afford to be slowed down by a hangover. They’re looking for a quick fix to get back to work. Plus, the market is flooded with new treatment options, and prices are low. Gafarov adds that you can’t ignore the marketing blitz from companies pushing these supplements—it’s definitely getting people to buy.
