Sales of antidepressants have risen to a record level in Russia
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Sales of antidepressants in Russia have reached a five-year high. Since the beginning of 2024, Russians have bought more than 3.5 million packages of drugs for a total amount of almost 3 billion rubles, according to analysts from the DSM Group company, which works in the pharmaceutical field. In monetary terms, this is 1.5 times more than at the beginning of last year, and by a third in quantitative terms.
Russians have begun to pay more attention to their mental health, notes Sergei Shulyak, CEO of the marketing agency DSM Group: “Initially, we had a very low consumption of these drugs. We are now approaching the average per capita consumption of these products in Europe or the United States. For any anxiety, people turn to doctors and are prescribed either sedatives or antidepressants.
Often, to normalize life processes and improve sleep, you can get by with light sedatives made from plant materials. Novo-Passit and valerian were popular. But the trend is that people want the effect here and now, and not long-term use of infusions or brewing tea with valerian, and accordingly, they turn to antidepressants.”
Doctors themselves attribute the growing popularity of antidepressants to changes in treatment methods. Such drugs have become more often prescribed instead of outdated herbal or sedatives, for example, Corvalol, Phenibut or Afobazole. Their effect turned out to be quite weak and short-term, in contrast to antidepressants, which doctors of various specialties began to use, noted neurologist Valery Kuvaev: “First, of course, this is the pressure of time and the current socio-political situation, the impact on people’s nervous system has accumulated. Secondly, patients have become more willing to take medications, and doctors have become more willing to prescribe them.
Not only psychiatrists prescribe antidepressants, these are mainly neurologists, gastroenterologists, and gynecologists. The reason is that they treat not only depression in its pure form, but also related chronic symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, back pain and various anxiety conditions. Indeed, antidepressants are more effective in treating symptoms than some mild herbal remedies.”
According to the analytical company RNC Pharma, pharmacies earned almost 1.5 trillion rubles in 2023. Moreover, pharmacists note that clients are switching to more expensive drugs. The influence of any specific groups of medications on the market is minimal, but an increase in demand for antidepressants, contraceptives and drugs to improve sleep was recorded.
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