Ukraine Invasion Prompting Sizable Contraction in Russian Aesthetic Device Market

And the consequences continue.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is expected to cause the country’s aesthetic devices market to contract by 59 percent this year, according to GlobalData. 
 
Given that the Russian aesthetic devices market—which includes aesthetic implants, aesthetic injectables, body contouring devices, and laser resurfacing devices—does not fulfil an essential medical need, sales have suffered more than other medical device sectors.
 
“As the nature of this conflict rapidly evolves, the Russian aesthetic devices market and the medical devices space more broadly is in a very bleak position,” said Brian Hicks, a senior medical devices analyst at GlobalData. “Several medical device companies such as 3M and Conformis announced the complete suspension of all distribution and sales operations, while most others, including leading companies Medtronic and Johnson & Johnson, opted instead to denounce the invasion and focus on their philanthropic activities. Implementing sanctions of all medical device exports to Russia is highly unlikely, but the Russian medical devices sector has already been heavily impacted by other indirect means.”
 
The Russian market is acutely susceptible to global supply chain disruptions given its high reliance on imported medical equipment, which was estimated to exceed 73 percent of its needs as of 2018, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. Furthermore, the plummeting buying power of the Russian ruble, combined with reduced healthcare budgets, will undoubtedly lower device procurement rates, resulting in the inability of the country to keep up with domestic surgical demand.
 
“Selling aesthetic devices product types has been more challenging given the economic sanctions in place, as applications of export licenses for these devices are now less likely to be approved. In particular, the laser resurfacing devices exported from the US are expected to be completely rejected due to the dual-use capability of laser technology in Russian military operations,” Hicks said. 
 
In addition, one of the leading companies in the aesthetic devices space, AbbVie, recently announced a temporary suspension of all its aesthetic product sales in Russia. This is a significant decision by AbbVie that will affect the injectables market, which the company dominates with leading brands Botox and Juvederm.
 
“Given the current geopolitical and trading instability with Russia, the aesthetic devices market will take several years to recover and it will potentially take more than a decade for it to recover to pre-invasion levels,” Hicks concluded.