Possible kickbacks in Russian government procurement of cancer medicines in 2025 could have amounted to about 38.5 billion rubles, according to an estimate published by Proekt on November 2. The figure is based on the outlet's calculations and an informant's account, not on proven illicit payments.
The journalists examined purchases of products from eight foreign pharmaceutical companies. Using the Cursor database, they calculated procurement worth 386.3 billion rubles in 2025. Their informant claimed kickbacks could amount to 10–20% of drug prices, and the journalists used the lower bound to derive their estimate.