Pharmaceutical industry is one of the few manufacturing sectors that is expected to show double-digit positive growth in 2025. The industrial production index for 2025 as a whole increased by +1.3% according to the Russian Ministry of Economic Development), while the production volume of drugs and materials used for medical and veterinary purposes increased by 15.4% over the same period. In 2025, the pharmaceutical market demonstrates sustainable development, gradually shifting toward domestic production. This is facilitated by both external factors and legislative initiatives.
Work on harmonizing regulatory practices within the EAEU, import substitution issues, discussions of the «second-excess» mechanism for full-cycle drugs and the formation of a List of Strategically Important Drugs (SiDs), and issues related to the protection of intellectual property rights—all of these are just a few of the initiatives that are in the focus of government attention and form the pharmaceutical environment.
By the end of 2025, the volume of the pharmaceutical market exceeded 3.3 trillion rubles. The growth driver in the reporting year was government procurement of pharmaceuticals: the volume of drugs supplied in the government segment increased by more than a quarter. The dynamics of pharmacy sales remained at the level of 2024 (+14%).
The market grew significantly in 2025 in dollar and euro terms due to the strengthening of the Russian ruble. In 2025, the volume in dollar terms amounted to $40.0 billion, which is 5.8% higher year-on-year. The market dynamics in euros amounted to +3.4% and the total volume was 35.5 billion euros.
The overall market share of imported drugs by the end of 2025 was 53.2% in rubles and 30.7% in packages. The combined share of the TOP-20 manufacturers in 2025 was 43.1%. AstraZeneca retained its leading position by the end of 2025. The second position belongs to the manufacturer F. Hoffmann-La Roche. Novartis is in third place with a 3.0% share. Bayer dropped out of the Top 3 and moved to the 5th place, although it was able to maintain the leading position in the pharmacy market. The Top 20 includes seven Russian companies, compared to six last year.
Total public sector procurement surged by 26% in value, reaching 1,030 billion rubles. In volume terms, procurement totaled 745 million packages. Among other things this dynamic is associated with a large volume of tenders held at the end of 2024 with contracts to be executed in 2025 and subsequent periods. In general, the share of tenders that are announced for more than one year is increasing in order to optimize budgets.
Hospital procurement grew to a greater extent due to the supply of essential drugs for healthcare institutions (+55% compared to 2024), as well as for the Federal Project “Fight Against Cancer” (+38%). Unlike the commercial market, the hospital market has grown significantly in terms of volume. The overall growth was approximately 30%. In 2025, a significant part of this growth was provided by two INNs, which are purchased in large quantities every few years: sodium chloride and ethanol.
In 2025, the funding volume for drug reimbursement programs increased by 16%. A total of 367 billion rubles were spent on providing drugs to subsidized categories of citizens. Growth in subsidized drug provision is primarily driven by regional programs.
During the year, Russians spent 1,850 billion rubles on drugs in pharmacies. The volume of sales in physical terms remained at the level of 2024 – 4.36 million packages. However, the dynamics in pieces (when converted to the packaging number) is positive — +2.5%. Pharmacy market behavior was again determined by seasonal trends: consumption of prescription drugs in physical terms remained flat throughout the year, while demand for OTC drugs was below 2024 levels, with the exception of December 2025, when the incidence of acute respiratory viral infections and influenza exceeded both the epidemiological threshold and the incidence rate of the previous epidemic season.
Pharmacy sales of parapharmaceuticals increased by 17% to 464 billion rubles. Among non-pharmaceutical products sold, dietary supplements and medical devices experienced the fastest growth, with an increase of over 20% year-on-year, followed by condoms and cosmetics, both up over 10%. High competition with retailers and marketplaces for consumer choice particularly affected the dynamics in packages for repellents (-14%), hygienic means (-11%) and oral cavity care means (-3.9%), as well as dressings (-3.4%).
As of the beginning of 2026, there were 83.7 thousand pharmacies operating in Russia, which is 3.7% higher than the previous year. It is worth emphasizing that the trend of intensive opening of new pharmacies slowed down in 2024 and resumed in 2025 at a slower pace. Legislative initiatives (changes in the tax system, additional audits related to business fragmentation, etc.) are leading to a decrease in the number of legal entities operating in the pharmacy market. If there were about 12.9 thousand of them in 2024, then there were 11.9 thousand legal entities by the end of 2025. This also indicates increasing market concentration.
For the second year in a row, the issue of leadership in the pharmacy market remains wide open. In 2025, the victory again went to the Rigla pharmacy chain. The turnover of acquired companies (from the date of purchase) in 2025 allowed them to maintain the first place in the ranking with a share of 11.9% and an increased gap over the second place by 6.3% in value terms.
The pharmacy chain Aprel remains the leader in terms of the number of outlets – 9976 pharmacies – and is the leader in terms of regional presence – the chain’s outlets are located in 77 regions of the Russian Federation.
The scope of pharmacy e-com in 2025 was approximately 367 billion rubles (combined drugs and parapharmaceuticals), which corresponds to 15.9% of the pharmacy market capacity. Apteka.ru remains the leading resource used by consumers to reserve pharmaceutical products, with its share growing to 33% in 2025.
In 2025, concentration in the distribution segment remained at 81%. At the same time, sales performance across distribution channels shows a diverging trend. In the pharmacy segment, consolidation trends are more noticeable: The Top 10 companies occupied 93.1% in 2025, while in 2024 it was 89.5%. On the contrary, the concentration in public procurement has fallen: the top 10 occupied 51.7% (compared to 54.8% in 2024).
The ranking leaders remained unchanged. In 2025, the distributor FC Pulse retained first place, taking 16.3%. The distributor CV Protek is in the second place with a share of 15.6%, and Katren is in the third place with a share of 12.9%. While the top three in the commercial segment align with the overall market ranking, other companies lead the government segment: Irwin 2, R-Farm, BSS.
According to forecasts, the market volume in 2026 will exceed to 3.6 trillion rubles, 7-10% higher than in 2025. Planned funding for government programs will remain at the 2025 level or will be indexed to the inflation rate for many programs. Therefore, the commercial segment will again be the growth driver in 2026: growth will amount to approximately 10-15%. The main contribution will be due to inflation. Volume growth is expected to remain flat as the market continues to shift toward larger pack sizes.