1 year of full-scale war: how Ukrainians bought medicine and how the pharmaceutical market lived
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Which medicines were bought the most, and which were abandoned due to active hostilities and lack of funds, whether the demand for medicines from the Ukrainian manufacturer has changed, and whether the nation has switched to total pharmaceutical online.
Shortage and purchase of Ukrainian medicines
Drug shortages were observed only in the first month of the full-scale invasion. There were 2 reasons for this: logistical instability and the overtime amount of drugs purchased in the first days of the war. At the beginning of the invasion, when normal logistics were impossible, there was a break in the logistics chains. Also, those who had chronic health problems bought medicine with a large supply, thereby creating a shortage. People did not understand how quickly deliveries to pharmacies would take place and whether they would be delivered at all, so they wanted to stock up on essentials as much as possible.
“Of course, in the first months of the war, the portfolio was dominated by the purchase of Ukrainian drugs for several reasons: they were available, because imported drugs could not be delivered in full, and Ukrainian analogues also have a lower cost. But since May, the situation began to stabilize.
Now, comparing the number of imported and Ukrainian drugs, there is a 5% increase in purchases of drugs from domestic manufacturers. Ukrainians are increasingly supporting the domestic manufacturer and the trend is constantly growing. This is a good indicator.” – said the Commercial Director of the Good Day Pharmacy chain Kostyantyn Kholyavchuk.
Medicines that were most popular in different periods of the war
Ukrainians did not stop buying medicines, including in order to later donate them to the needs of the military. The demand for medicines changed based on the level of escalation of the war, mass news that disturbed the most, as well as the occupation and de-occupation of the territories of Ukraine.
People with chronic heart diseases bought medicines overtime from the first hours of the invasion. In February and March, heart medicines were sold 13% more than in January 2022. A similar situation was with hormonal drugs, +20% in February compared to January.
Those who have diabetes cannot do without insulin and other necessary medicines, since it is precisely such patients who depend on the regularity of taking them. Therefore, they bought medicine in all possible ways. On the lists of volunteers to find a cure, insulin was the first. In March, the peak figure was +25%, compared to January.
A wave of news about a nuclear strike actively swept through the Ukrainian information space in the period from July to October 2022. The main advice of experts: “Use potassium iodide after an official notification about the threat of release and the need for iodine prophylaxis.” So, Ukrainians began to buy all iodine-containing medicines en masse, increasing the demand for products 3 times in August, compared to July. It was a record outbreak since the Chernobyl disaster.
Online or at the pharmacy: who won the race to buy medicines
In the period from February 24 to the end of March, Ukrainians did not buy medicine online. This was affected by problems with the availability of delivery by courier, lack of light in those regions where there were active hostilities. Also, at that time, customers were not sure whether the pharmacies would continue to work, whether they would be able to pick up the medicines ordered on the website, so they bought offline in open pharmacies.
The trend of online purchases on the website of the pharmacy or partner sites began to grow already in May, and in September it returned to pre-war indicators.
So today’s digital generation continues to shop online and order home delivery of medicines. However, the fate of those who are used to receiving face-to-face consultation from pharmacists in a pharmacy is still much higher. Therefore, it is too early to talk about a total pharmaceutical transition to online.
The pharmaceutical market is a critical infrastructure object
Since the beginning of the war, the pharmaceutical market of Ukraine has not stopped working at the level of critical infrastructure facilities for a single day. Among the pharmacists, there were many heroes who, even under fire, went out and sold the necessary medicines.
Pharmacies take an active part in charity and donate to the needs of those in need. Thus, during the year of the war, the Pharmacy of Good Day provided more than UAH 12 million in aid, namely UAH 7.2 million for the needs of the Armed Forces and provided free of charge medicine to the military and those who needed it in the amount of more than UAH 4.5 million. Also, the company joined the “Tactical medicine for defenders” project of the “Serhiy Prytula” charitable foundation, where it provided UAH 500,000 for the training of the military for three months. As part of the project, about 7,000 servicemen were trained in tactical medicine.
Since September, the Ukrainian pharmaceutical business has fully adjusted to the pre-war rhythm. Where there were violations due to military actions, not a trace remained, because the business was renewed and continues to move, develop services, open new points.
Over the past 12 months, the Good Day Pharmacy has restored and reopened pharmacies in Irpen, Buch, Dnipro and Kharkiv.
The company continues to open new pharmacies in different cities of Ukraine. 5 new pharmacies will open their doors in Kyiv in March:
- ave. Stepan Bandera, 15-A shopping center Aushan
- St. Berkovetska, 6 Auchan
- St. Hnata Khotkevicha, 1-B Auchan Mall Prospect
- St. Urlivska 2
- St. B. Khmelnytskoho 33/34
“The Ukrainian pharmaceutical market, like all of Ukraine, continues to surprise the whole world. Each of us has friends who lived in Europe and compared the speed and convenience of Ukrainian and European services. For us, service is the main thing even during the war, because as before, everyone can choose the necessary medicines on the website and not visit the pharmacy, because the courier will deliver everything, and for those who have an insurance policy, you will not even have to choose them yourself, because the necessary medicines will be selected by a doctor organized by the insurance company.
Europeans themselves wonder how our brave pharmacists dispensed the necessary insulin under fire. They are surprised at how quickly we are rebuilding the pharmacies destroyed by the Russians in the de-occupied territories. But we are Ukrainians and we cannot do otherwise.
The entire Ukrainian business has already become an example for the whole world and has shown how quickly we adapt to external factors, even in critical situations,” noted the general director of Aptek Dobroho Dnya Oksana Kyrychenko.
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