Pharmaceuticals in Russia

[Manny]

Supposing one wants some pharmaceutical item on the recommendation of a doctor in Russia, and the doctor recommends some bloke where it can be bought. To me this sounds like Yuri will flog you a bottle of Asprin instead and clear off smiling with a pocketful of Roubles. No way of knowing if it's right or not - like buying off the net from India and suchlike.

How does someone in Russia nowadays obtain legit drugs if said items are not routine pharmacy stuff? How does one buy genuine licensed items (or proper generics) that aren't fake?

And would it still be normal in Russia for a hospital doctor to recommend some random bloke where pharmaceuticals can be bought? (One assumes a backhander of course - which isnt of concern if the stuff is right).

[Steveboy]

Supposing one wants some pharmaceutical item on the recommendation of a doctor in Russia, and the doctor recommends some bloke where it can be bought. To me this sounds like Yuri will flog you a bottle of Asprin instead and clear off smiling with a pocketful of Roubles. No way of knowing if it's right or not - like buying off the net from India and suchlike.

How does someone in Russia nowadays obtain legit drugs if said items are not routine pharmacy stuff? How does one buy genuine licensed items (or proper generics) that aren't fake?

And would it still be normal in Russia for a hospital doctor to recommend some random bloke where pharmaceuticals can be bought? (One assumes a backhander of course - which isnt of concern if the stuff is right).

I don't think the doctors do that sort of thing any more? We have used the doctor and hospital many times for the kids for all sorts of stuff even had the ambulance service in the house , they always give you a prescription to collect from the pharmacy just like in the UK..

Its pretty well the same kind of thing in the UK except there is more stuff at the pharmacy you would not be given a prescription for in the UK. My mother has told us a few times they would not give you that stuff in the UK over the counter, she knows it is what she does.

[Ste]

Pharmacy? Chemist!!


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[Steveboy]

Pharmacy? Chemist!!


.

аптекарь...

I never heard of anyone picking up fake medicines from the Chemist , Im pretty sure it doesn't happen around here.

But I am always careful buying deodorant from the super market once I'm sure it was fake something, it was like spraying gasoline under my armpits! Lucky I never sprayed any on my nuts!

[Manny]

they always give you a prescription to collect from the pharmacy just like in the UK..

For antibiotics or something, yes. But what of a drug that is £500 a course for example? You ain't getting that in Russia on a ten quid prescription. Why I am asking how that side of the system might work.

I don't think the doctors do that sort of thing any more?

I can assure you they do. Hence the question.

Pharmacy? Chemist!!

Plenty of fakes around in those places in Russia, too.

[Steveboy]

they always give you a prescription to collect from the pharmacy just like in the UK..

For antibiotics or something, yes. But what of a drug that is £500 a course for example? You ain't getting that in Russia on a ten quid prescription. Why I am asking how that side of the system might work.

I don't think the doctors do that sort of thing any more?

I can assure you they do. Hence the question.

Pharmacy? Chemist!!

Plenty of fakes around in those places in Russia, too.

I will try to find out about that. But if I had to pay 500 for a course I would rather suffer 

[msmoby]

Had a mate in Sochi that needed medication following a heart operation ... needed to take meds that cost $220 per packet and had to buy 4 packets over the year.

They were cheaper to buy from N.America

[Steveboy]

Im not sure how it is every where else but I know for sure it is very hard to pay anyone backhanders for things or even small bribes or anything like that here today. I may be wrong but all things like buying a driving licence or work contract , paying a copper to let you off drink driving or other offences. lots of things have come to an end, Im sure a few still do it but for most it doesn't happen any more even just over the last couple of years. They even have bloody pay and Display now!! Just waiting for the garbage people to ask us to put bottles in one bin tins in another and paper and general waste in another..

My wife was going to buy a driving license only recently but it is impossible now. She has to go for a test soon, though she can drive ok anyway..

[msmoby]

Im not sure how it is every where else but I know for sure it is very hard to pay anyone backhanders for things or even small bribes or anything like that here today. I may be wrong but all things like buying a driving licence or work contract , paying a copper to let you off drink driving or other offences. lots of things have come to an end

Steveboy, You're wrong ((

 I know you THINK I'm a 'russophobe' (  ) , but when / if your wife starts driving you'll find that ( in the south of Russia - at least ) folks get stopped for minor 'offences' and the first thing they are told is, ' your driving licence is suspended' - it's happened to me ...

I just laugh and give the policeman my driving licence - pointing out a new one will be ordered from Swansea ..    There's no 'threat' to a westerner that doesn't have an RU licence and my wallet stays firmly closed..they give up - knowing that there's no biz to be done... not that I've even broken a law.

It's completely different story for a Russian at the wheel.  The law's been changed to make the act of paying a bribe as bad as asking for one to make a misdemeanour 'go away' ..  So people pay up and the recipient Police Officers know they're safe.






 

[Jerash]

Supposing one wants some pharmaceutical item on the recommendation of a doctor in Russia, and the doctor recommends some bloke where it can be bought. To me this sounds like Yuri will flog you a bottle of Asprin instead and clear off smiling with a pocketful of Roubles. No way of knowing if it's right or not - like buying off the net from India and suchlike.

How does someone in Russia nowadays obtain legit drugs if said items are not routine pharmacy stuff? How does one buy genuine licensed items (or proper generics) that aren't fake?

And would it still be normal in Russia for a hospital doctor to recommend some random bloke where pharmaceuticals can be bought? (One assumes a backhander of course - which isnt of concern if the stuff is right).

I don't think the doctors do that sort of thing any more? We have used the doctor and hospital many times for the kids for all sorts of stuff even had the ambulance service in the house , they always give you a prescription to collect from the pharmacy just like in the UK..

Its pretty well the same kind of thing in the UK except there is more stuff at the pharmacy you would not be given a prescription for in the UK. My mother has told us a few times they would not give you that stuff in the UK over the counter, she knows it is what she does.

Agreed!  That's out of date analysis.  Some of my students work in the pharmaceutical industry, and the tracking procedures are quite stringent!  Get a prescription and you'll be on your way.

[Jerash]

they always give you a prescription to collect from the pharmacy just like in the UK..

For antibiotics or something, yes. But what of a drug that is £500 a course for example? You ain't getting that in Russia on a ten quid prescription. Why I am asking how that side of the system might work.

I don't think the doctors do that sort of thing any more?

I can assure you they do. Hence the question.

Pharmacy? Chemist!!

Plenty of fakes around in those places in Russia, too.

You don't need a prescription for antibiotics here.  Pretty sure you won't be dealing with medicinal fakes either, unless you're going for something very experimental.

[Jerash]

Im not sure how it is every where else but I know for sure it is very hard to pay anyone backhanders for things or even small bribes or anything like that here today. I may be wrong but all things like buying a driving licence or work contract , paying a copper to let you off drink driving or other offences. lots of things have come to an end, Im sure a few still do it but for most it doesn't happen any more even just over the last couple of years. They even have bloody pay and Display now!! Just waiting for the garbage people to ask us to put bottles in one bin tins in another and paper and general waste in another..

My wife was going to buy a driving license only recently but it is impossible now. She has to go for a test soon, though she can drive ok anyway..

My experience is more limited, but it agrees.  Russia is prim and proper these days.  Decent place, easy to live, everything above board, and lots of checks and balances.  That's my sense.

[Manny]

You don't need a prescription for antibiotics here.

In Russia I gather they changed the law on that about 4 years ago - and now you do, but you can still buy it if you know where. But this isn't something like that anyway.

[Jerash]

You don't need a prescription for antibiotics here.

In Russia I gather they changed the law on that about 4 years ago - and now you do, but you can still buy it if you know where. But this isn't something like that anyway.

Don't know, you could be right, I'll have to check next week.  My impression was you could still buy over the counter.  I doubt there's still special places bending the rules, but I could be wrong.

[Steveboy]

Transnistria ! Every thing is possible there , you could probably buy a nuke with a back hander, but I don't think they have much new medicines there, just smelling salts! 

I love that republic... So much fun there I could write a book about it. Once I really thought I was going to have to swim over the river on the Ukrainian border to get in from another check point..

[Gipsy]

You don't need a prescription for antibiotics here.

In Russia I gather they changed the law on that about 4 years ago - and now you do, but you can still buy it if you know where. But this isn't something like that anyway.

Antibiotics are OTC.

Have never heard of any form of prescription in Russia, Yet.

Have also never encountered any "Yuri suppliers", though I wouldn't put it past there being such a thing... (Its Russia after all).

My medicines are all purchased through the local Apteka, and normally take a few days to arrive as mostly, they come from Switzerland ( not necessarily manufactured there ).

Russia, has several of the biggie pharm companies manufacturing their products in the country these days (about 50% of annual requirements), with a target to produce 90% of annual requirement in country by 2020.

The importation of meds is very strictly controlled nowadays, so very few placebo's are to be found I would suggest.

Some drugs must be ordered by the doctor/hospital, as they are controlled strictly, this may also be the case for those which you need..

[2tallbill]

But what of a drug that is £500 a course for example?

Plenty of fakes around in those places in Russia, too.

Unless it was a treatment developed in Russia, I would think that you
should be able to buy it cheaper in the UK or Canada and the risk of 
buying fake pills is greatly diminished.

[Gipsy]

But what of a drug that is £500 a course for example?

Plenty of fakes around in those places in Russia, too.

Unless it was a treatment developed in Russia, I would think that you
should be able to buy it cheaper in the UK or Canada and the risk of 
buying fake pills is greatly diminished.

I would very much doubt that one could not purchase the medicines in the Uk without a prescription, unless one got them on the internet, then there may be a problem if caught importing them into the UK., unless one knows an English "Yuri".

Then there could be problems sending such stuff by post into Russia.

If one were to carry such medicines with them, and were caught, and cannot prove that they were for personal use, again problems...

Maybe better purchase in Russia to avoid any sh1t..

[Manny]

then there may be a problem if caught importing them into the UK.

Pharmaceuticals from overseas are routinely imported into the UK by mail and courier, whatever the rules might be.

Then there could be problems sending such stuff by post into Russia.

Pharmaceuticals from overseas are routinely imported into Russia by mail and courier, whatever the rules might be.

Maybe better purchase in Russia to avoid any sh1t..

Which brings us back to the question: Where is the legit supply chain when Aptekas simply say "We dont have that" and ones from some Yuri might be fake?

[Ste]

Try the Dark Web, alsorts on there, even crack Lemsip..


.

[andrewfi]

I noticed the other day that at least some of the reputable online suppliers of Indian pharmaceuticals are no longer supplying to Russia, just as they don't supply Estonia, Finland or Sweden.

Those guys will supply to anywhere they can make a profit and the margins on this stuff are obscene. That tells me that Russia is watching imports much more closely than before. At the same time, that implies, to me at least, that the supply of fake products is likely to have gone down.

Interesting article from a few years ago: http://www.dw.com/en/russia-dabbles-big-time-in-fake-pharma/a-18466188 Unfortunately, as with many similar articles there's a purposeful conflation of the term fake (or counterfeit) with copy. For example, if one sees tablets that are badly made counterfeits of Phizer's Viagra then the chances are that the product will not contain any active ingredient but a product that is marketed as, for example, Silagra, a product that is made using Phizer's developed chemistry, then the chances are that it will contain the real drug. Plenty of these 'generics' available over there.

A brief overview of drug-related legislation and procedures: http://www.worldtrademarkreview.com/Intelligence/Pharmaceutical-Trademarks/2017/Country-chapters/Russia

Electronic prescribing is now getting started in Moscow (EMIAS) and will, I am sure spread rapidly, as it did in Estonia, and for the same reasons: to reduce prescription costs, stop illegal prescriptions, make the process more convenient for patients and to enable access to medical info for professionals from one location to another. Gone are the days, for me, when a girlfriend would ask me for a list of medications for which I wanted a script, a script given in exchange for a small gift to the doctor.

Pharmaceuticals in Russia are now packaged such that an individual pack can be traced from buyer back to the manufacturer. This makes the institutionalized selling of counterfeit products much, much harder.

[AvHdB]

The sketch that Andrew draws is about the same for Ukraine. What is perhaps a variation is said medicine ordered on line is delivered to a pharmacy for patient to collect in person. It should be noted for those unfamiliar with the former Soviet Union that this is a region of hypochondriacs and worry warts.

Most medication here (Ukraine) compared to North America is more than half the price lower.

As Andrew also indicates there is a substantial difference between a copy (generic) and a forgery (placebo).