Sales in pharmacies of Arbidol, which was used everywhere at the height of the pandemic, fell by the end of October 2022 for the first time — by a third compared to September. This reflects the overall picture with the sale of all antivirals, the demand for which decreased by 13% yoy. But manufacturers will be able to win back the October fall, experts are sure. The country has already recorded an increase in the incidence of acute respiratory viral infections, and other modifications of the virus may replace COVID-19.

In October 2022, sales of several antiviral drugs produced by OTCPharm, owned by the main owner “Pharmstandard” to Viktor Kharitonin. Thus, the demand for “Arbidol” decreased by 33.4% compared to September, for “Amiksin” – by 31.4%. Such data are provided in the DSM Group report, available to Kommersant. At the same time, Arbidol showed a decrease in demand for the first time since the beginning of this year.

According to DSM Group, in January-October 2022, Arbidol accounted for 37% of the total revenue structure of OTCPharm. During this period, the company gained 48 billion rubles. (growth by 5% year on year). That is, due to the sale of this funds, the manufacturer received 17.76 billion rubles. The share of Arbidol in the OTCPharm portfolio began to increase at the height of the pandemic, as the drug was included in the COVID-19 treatment protocols, says Sergey Shulyak, CEO of DSM Group. beginning of this year, and in ten months the reduction was 10% year-on-year. However, the share of this drug in the company’s portfolio does not exceed 3%. OTCPharm did not answer Kommersant‘s questions.

In October, DSM Group recorded a decrease in retail sales of such drugs by a total of 13% year-on-year. For example, Ingavirin (manufacturer of Valenta Pharm) showed a 48.5% drop in monetary terms year-on-year.

The trend is also confirmed in pharmaceutical retail. Zdravcity CEO Boris Popov says online demand for antiviral and cold medicines dropped by 19% in October compared to September. From the data of the 36.6 network provided to Kommersant, in October the pharmaceutical retailer sold 117.29 thousand packages of antiviral drugs, which is 11.8% less year-on-year. demand for these drugs was fixed in the spring: after the start of the military operation of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, Russians began to actively buy drugs in pharmacies. The peak values ​​were in March, when over 330,000 drug packages were sold in a month, which is twice the current sales, notes Boris Popov.

the growth in sales of the same Arbidol and other antiviral drugs was caused by a surge in the incidence of COVID-19. “Now we are seeing a return to the usual, pre-Covid values ​​of demand for drugs in this group,” adds the expert. Binnopharm Group CEO Rustem Muratov also confirms that cold and antiviral drugs are currently not showing good results.

However, Sergey Shulyak believes that manufacturers of antiviral drugs and drugs used in the treatment of coronavirus infection will be able to compensate October fall. “Other modifications of the virus may replace COVID-19,” the expert says. In addition, according to him, a new surge of respiratory viral infections is beginning. According to Rospotrebnadzor, over the past week, the incidence of SARS in the country has increased by almost 20%. The spread of new flu strains that can cause severe lung complications has already led to an increase in demand for antibiotics, says Boris Popov. According to him, in October, Zdravcity sold 2% more such drugs than in September.