Detox clinics are growing in popularity in Russia

In Russia, the popularity of specialized clinics offering IV drips to restore and maintain health is growing. Over the past year, interest in opening such centers, which do not require significant investments and large premises, has grown threefold. The market will continue to develop, but relatively high prices and a narrow target group of consumers will be limiting factors, experts say.

Demand for opening franchised infusion therapy clinics offering the installation of IVs with vitamins, drugs for detox, boosting immunity, etc., according to the results of the first half of the year, increased three times year-on-year, experts from Franchiza.ru calculated. TopFranchise noticed a 50% increase in requests for such projects from the end of November 2022 to August 2023.

The head of Franchiza.ru, Anna Rozhdestvenskaya, says that at the beginning of 2022, there was practically no demand for clinic franchises with IV drips, and interest began to form about a year ago, mainly in large cities. TopFranchise co-founder Viktor Bolshakov also points out that the popularity of such clinics and other specialized medical centers was not noticeable before.

Among the clinics specializing in IV drips is the Biorise network, which includes 125 institutions, including in Kazakhstan. Biorise partner Artur Zaripov clarifies that the company owns one center, the rest have been opened as a franchise since 2021. The Clean Clinic network includes 44 facilities, of which three clinics are located in other countries, said company founder Timur Islamov.

According to Anna Rozhdestvenskaya, detox clinic projects are attractive due to their compact format and small required investments. Biorise and Clean Clinic, for example, according to franchise catalogs, require premises with an area of ​​70 square meters. m, the minimum investment volume is 2–3.4 million rubles. In addition, the demand for business at the intersection of medicine and the beauty industry has grown along with the increase in demand for services, Ms. Rozhdestvenskaya points out.

The Grand Clinic network of immunorehabilitation and preventive medicine clinics confirms that interest in infusion therapy services began to grow about a year ago. According to the company, in January-June the number of such requests increased by 27% year-on-year. The head of the Grand Clinic, Olga Shuppo, notes that people became interested in restoring their health when the COVID-19 pandemic began to recede. Grand Clinic also plans to enter the Russian regions with a franchise of this area.

Irina Ivanova, head of the Zhiznelogiya department of preventive medicine at the Kirov Light Medical Center, says that before the COVID-19 pandemic, IVs were rarely used in outpatient settings, but during the pandemic, due to the possibility of quick recovery, they began to gain popularity. In the department of her center, the volume of infusion therapy services, according to Ms. Ivanova, has doubled over the past two years. Viktor Bolshakov adds that trends can also be set by popular bloggers who are listened to by consumers.

Director of the Institute of Health Economics of the Higher School of Economics Larisa Popovich notes that the economically active generation of millennials, the main consumers of such services, is characterized by a demand for preventive medicine, therefore we can expect that the infusion therapy market will continue to grow with proper marketing positioning. DSM Group CEO Sergei Shulyak notes that the development of such clinics can be hampered by the high cost of courses of prescribed drugs, which, even as rehabilitation therapy after COVID-19, can be expensive for the majority of the population. At Biorise, a “detox” dropper costs 4 thousand rubles. per procedure, at Grand Clinic prices start from 4.5 thousand rubles. For the mass consumer, the segment is still very poorly developed, agrees RNC Pharma Development Director Nikolay Bespalov.

Polina Gritsenko