MOSCOW —
Russia is running low on insulin
and other important medical supplies produced abroad, the Kommersant business
daily reported Wednesday, including raw materials key for domestic drug production at home.
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The concerns come after a wave of Western sanctions
over conflict in Ukraine began battering the
Russian economy and dozens of
major Western brands announced their departure from the market.
The federal medical regulator Roszdravnadzor and a
national association of pharmacies attributed insulin shortages to “urgent
consumer demand,” Kommersant said.
The
Kremlin-aligned business daily noted, however,
that most diabetes medication used in Russia is also produced in the country
and there was no disruption to production and distribution chains.
Several patients interviewed by Kommersant said
there was a rush on insulin because other medical devices used by diabetics are
produced abroad, and they expected a general price hike or shortages caused by
sanctions.
Western sanctions against Russia’s military
incursion in Ukraine have so far focused on
Russia banks and oil and gas,
without targeting the medical sector.
Still, Kommersant said, Russian companies could be
left without imported raw materials and components.
It reported that deliveries from
Europe have all but
stopped and those from China and India — which account for up to 80 percent of
imports — have been hampered by supply chain disruptions.
Local stocks are expected to last three to six
months, it said.
The collapse of the
Soviet Union saw Russia’s prized
pharmaceutical industry collapse and ushered in a period where the country was
reliant on Western laboratories.
Moscow has been working to reduce its dependence on
the West, a policy advanced after EU and
US sanctions following Russia’s
annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014.
However, local production is still largely dependent
on imported raw materials.
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