Prices for Medicines in the rf Are Rising Three Times Faster than Inflation

The government of the rf is promoting a draft law on personalized certificates for medicines worth 4,500 rubles for low-income families and citizens in crisis situations. But against the background of rapid price growth, this assistance is negligible. From January to September 2025, the average price of a package of medicines jumped by 13.6 % compared to last year, to 416 rubles, which is 3.5 times higher than the official inflation rate.

The problem is especially acute in the field of nephrology. In at least ten regions, patients with chronic kidney diseases are not receiving essential medications. In St. Petersburg, Parsabiv is not being dispensed to patients on hemodialysis. In Bashkortostan, there is a shortage of Eralfon, Mircera, Ketosteril, and iron-based medicines. In Saratov region, patients in the pre-dialysis stage are left without Kalimeit and Zemplar. The reason is chronic underfunding of the system.

Supplies are also declining: for example, Ketosteril entered the market in the first nine months of 2025 with 531,000 packages – by 24 % less than last year.

The crisis also affects the scientific sphere. In medicine, russia has lost one in four researchers over the past 15 years: in 2024, only 8,387 medical scientists remained – minus 27 % compared to the year 2010.

In total, as of the beginning of 2024, there were 338,900 researchers working in all fields in the country. This is by 40,500 fewer than in 2015, a decrease of 11 %. During the years of full-scale war against Ukraine alone, the number of scientists has decreased by thousands, with at least 2,500 having left the country, including more than 800 internationally recognized scientists.