The former executive said the alleged corruption schemes involve American and European drugmakers, Russian distributors, regulators and doctors. The investigation is based on her documents and testimony.
In 2025 alone, Russia bought 386 billion rubles' worth of medicines from eight Western pharmaceutical companies, according to Proekt. The largest suppliers were Roche (87.9 billion), Astra Zeneca (77.2 billion), Novartis (61.4 billion), Sanofi (46.4 billion), Johnson & Johnson (41.5 billion), Bristol Myers Squibb (25.2 billion), Astellas (24.3 billion) and Pfizer (22.5 billion).
Under the alleged scheme, manufacturers pay Russian distributors "commercial bonuses" averaging 30% of the price of a package, and up to 60% on large purchases. That money goes toward "procurement support": bribes to those who decide which drugs are bought, and payments for patronage in government agencies. The state buys the medicines at full price.
Distributors pass part of the funds to smaller intermediary firms that take part in tenders and negotiate with chief physicians and officials. Shell companies are used to cash out the money: they receive payment under fictitious contracts for logistics, marketing or warehouse repairs. Cashing out on the Russian market costs about 6%.
According to Proekt's source, the internal audit departments of Western companies do not interfere in the schemes. "It suits them: they can secure big sales in a large market and at the same time not get mixed up in all these corruption schemes, not have dealings with the FAS," the outlet quoted its interviewee as saying.
In 2019, the "Fight against Oncological Diseases" program was launched under the national Healthcare project. In its first six years it was allocated almost a trillion rubles — two-thirds of all the national project's funds. According to the analytical agency Cursor, the main suppliers of cancer drugs to state hospitals in 2025 were Pharmstandard (28.1 billion rubles), R-Pharm (24.7 billion), Biocad (21.5 billion, controlled by Pharmstandard), Irvin (17.1 billion, co-owned by the family of Alexei Dyumin, a former Putin bodyguard) and Nanolek (15.1 billion, controlled by Pharmstandard).
In most countries, drugmakers do not pay bonuses to suppliers, Proekt's interviewees said. The exceptions are Bulgaria (2–3%), Saudi Arabia (7–8%), South Korea (6–9%), Turkey (up to 10%) and Brazil (up to 15%).
According to Proekt, in 2024–2025 several complaints based on insider information were filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department asking them to investigate corruption and collusion in tenders for the sale of medicines in Russia. An investigation was opened, but in February last year Donald Trump suspended new investigations under the FCPA — the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act — and ordered a review of how it is applied.
Corruption schemes in drug procurement have repeatedly been the subject of criminal cases in Russia, the outlet notes. In 2019, a R-Pharm manager was convicted of bribing the chief physician of a hospital in Khakassia, and in 2021 the director of a Pharmimex branch was convicted of bribing the head of the Penza oncology dispensary.