Between February 28 and March 6, 577,000 packs of antidepressants were sold in Russian pharmacies, three times as many as a year earlier. This involved a total amount of 525 million rubles (4.62 million euros), which is more than four times as much as a year earlier. The demand for antidepressants has therefore grown faster than the demand for medicines in general.
Patients would stock up for fear of shortages and rising prices. The most sold prescription antidepressants are imported.
There is also a growing demand for over-the-counter sleeping pills and anti-anxiety drugs. There is an increase of 88 percent and 35 percent in the first week of March, to 3.3 million and 347,000 packages respectively. In monetary terms, it rose by 100 percent and 81 percent, to 459 million rubles (4 million euros) and 163 million rubles (1.4 million euros), respectively.