An Unparalleled Drug For The Treatment Of Schizophrenia And Bipolar Disorder Has Disappeared From Russian Pharmacies

The medicine is manufactured in Japan and Italy.

The drug Latuda, which is used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder type 2, has disappeared from sale in Russian pharmacies. This was brought to the attention of RTVI.

The journalists checked the availability of the drug through aggregators Megapteka, to which more than 20 thousand outlets in 80 regions of the country are connected, and Apteka.Mos. According to the latter, on February 4, "Latuda" was not available in any of the pharmacies in 67 regions with which the site works. The drug was also not available in online stores of the largest federal pharmacy chains - Rigla, 36.6 and ASNA. The drug was found in single copies in the Republic of Mari El, Tatarstan, Chuvashia and Udmurtia, as well as in the Arkhangelsk, Kirov, Kemerovo and Samara regions.

Roszdravnadzor denies the shortage of the drug. According to the agency, there are 39,000 packs of the drug remaining in Russian regions. At the same time, psychiatrists working with patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder note that problems with Latuda began as early as the end of December 2025. The importer of the drug - the pharmaceutical company Angelini Pharma Rus LLC - attributed the defect to the New Year holidays, but in February the situation did not get better, says psychiatrist Anton Eliseenko. As a result, many patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder may be left untreated because Latuda has no direct analogs on the Russian market, warned psychiatrist Maxim Reznikov.

According to Eliseenko, right now doctors are trying to urgently replace the drug with other atypical antipsychotics. "There are patients who have tried all other options, there are those for whom other antipsychotics don't fit well. In general, the damage from this situation to the health of patients is significant," the psychiatrist emphasized.

Director for development of the analytical company RNC Pharma Nikolai Bespalov suggested that the drug is unavailable due to increased demand. "Judging by the dynamics of consumption over the past four years, the demand for it is really quite dynamically growing, this could be the reason for the shortage of the product, say if it is actively prescribed by specialized specialists," - said Bespalov. At the same time, he admitted that the reason for the lack of the drug on sale could be "internal problems with the release".

Angelani Pharma Rus said that Latuda is available at the importer's warehouse "in sufficient quantity" and "is shipped by distributors without restrictions" for distribution to pharmacies. The company assured that the drug will be available to patients "in the near future." "Latuda" is manufactured in Japan and Italy. The active ingredient of the drug - lurazidone - is included in the list of vital and essential drugs in Russia.

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