Sales of antidepressants in Russia surged during coronavirus lockdown as alarm spread about effects of pandemic

An industry monitor has reported that the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the introduction of a self-isolation regime in many regions, resulted in a significant uptake in the consumption of mood stabilizers in Russia.

Analysts at DSM Group – which analyzes all sectors of the pharmaceutical industry – studied data on sales of antidepressants and noticed a marked increase in sales of these drugs, during the period from March 1 to June 1 of this year.

Over the three months, sales of antidepressants increased by an average of 10 percent compared to the same timeframe in 2019.

In total, from the beginning of March to the beginning of June, 2.3 million packages were sold for a total amount of more than 1.4 billion rubles ($20 million).
In March, as the pandemic caused growing alarm, sales of antidepressants ratcheted up 35 percent year-on-year. In the first two weeks of the month, growth was more than 60 percent.

DSM Analysts then noticed a gradual decrease in demand for antidepressants, starting in April.

Earlier this month, industry experts found that sales of disinfectants also spiked in Russia this year – up by around 1,100 percent on normal levels.

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