According to analyst firm AlfaRM, the pharmacy market in the first half-year reached RUB 511 bn growing 13% compared with the same period in 2016. The first-half year's growth was recorded at 37% in dollar terms and – at 42% in Euro terms.

The number of pharmacies in Russia continued to go up totaling 61,800 as of June 2017, which is 6.3% up versus the same period a year ago.

The Krasnodar-based 'April' pharmacy chain went on to make inroads into new regions opening new points of sale in the Bryansk region in June preceded by the Saratov and Voronezh regions in May, and the Kursk, Volgograd, and Astrakhan regions in April. The Moscow-based Mega Pharm drugstore chain opened new points of sale in the Tver, Tula, and Lipetsk regions in Junepreceded by the Samara region in May and the Kostroma, Yaroslavl, Kaluga, Volgograd regions, and the Republic of Chuvashia in April.  Mega Farm made it to the TOP-25 of drugstore chains in the first half of the year on the back of a fast-track expansion campaign.

Announced in June, a transaction between the Doctor Stoletov&Ozerki network and the pharmacy business of pharmaceutical group ROSTA stands a chance of qualifying for the largest asset-building deal in 2017, bringing Doctor Stoletov&Ozerki on top of the pharmacy chain market. In the aggregate, the chain business represents roughly 2.4% of pharmacy sales turnover in Russia.

In June, the Perm-based 'Planeta Zdorovia' pharmacy chain followed through with a deal to acquire the 'Semeynaya Apteka' 15-drugstore network in the Republic of Tatarstan. The Altai-based 'Evalar' pharmacy chain broke into the market of St. Petersburg