The Russian retail market for saline- and seawater-based nasal and throat rinse products¹ has shown steady multi-year growth, reaching RUB 15.2 billion by the end of 2025. Over the year, Russians purchased more than 32.4 million packages of such products. Despite a slowdown in sales growth compared to 2024, the market remains in positive territory (+9.3% in value and +2.5% in volume). Consumer interest in the category remains high, but the beginning of 2026 saw stagnation: with a symbolic increase in market value to RUB 2.8 billion (+1.3%), physical consumption fell by 7% compared to January-February of the previous year, amounting to 5.6 million packages.

According to the "Retail Audit of Drug and Medical Device Sales in Russia (total sell out)" by the analytical company RNC Pharma, demand for nasal and throat rinse and irrigation products typically increases during the autumn-winter period, during the seasonal peak of acute respiratory viral infections (ARVI) and colds. Peak activity is usually observed in December; in the last month of the past year, consumers purchased 3.7 million packages, spending RUB 1.8 billion. In 2025, an increase in demand was also noted in September, correlating with a rise in ARVI incidence during that period. In January 2026, a sales decline was recorded in line with fairly standard consumption trends, while February of the current year saw an increase in demand; however, long-term dynamics for that month were negative – compared to February 2025, sales of these products decreased by 9.4% in packages and 1.9% in value.

In 2025, 42 companies presented their products in retail, more than half of which were domestic manufacturers. In total, the category included 48 brands, encompassing 239 SKUs. Over the past three years, six new products have been introduced in the category, almost all of which are manufactured by Russian companies. It is important to note that the market within the category is highly consolidated, with the top ten products accounting for 93.5% of the total ruble sales volume. Nevertheless, the dominance of the leaders is gradually declining – since 2022, their combined share has decreased by 3 percentage points. The ranking by consumer spending is led by the brand Aqualor from Nizhpharm, holding 35.6% of the market in value terms. Second place is retained by the Croatian brand Aqua Maris (Jadran) with a 27.7% share. It is followed by Linacqua from the domestic manufacturer Groteks, which accounted for 10.7% of sales. The top four is rounded out by the nasal rinse device and solution Dolphin (Zentiva), which showed fairly high growth dynamics compared to 2024 (+15% in rubles). Among the top products, the highest growth rates were exhibited by the brands Rankof and Aquarossa. Over the year, their value sales volumes increased 2.9-fold and 2.1-fold, respectively. Outside the top tier, the most significant increase in sales was shown by Marimer from Laboratoire Gilbert – a 15-fold increase in ruble sales and a 13-fold increase in packages.

For the second consecutive year, the brand Linacqua from Groteks has been losing ground, with a decline of -30% in rubles and -37% in packages compared to 2024. The likely reason is the reallocation of the company's capacities towards contract manufacturing of private label products (Aquazivin, Nosifit, etc.). Also within the top ten, sales of the brand Aquanazal from Altayvitaminy dropped, by approximately 23% in rubles and 34% in packages.

Table. TOP-10 Brands of Saline- and Seawater-Based Nasal and Throat Rinse and Irrigation Products (including devices) by Value Sales Volume on the Russian Retail Market (including marketplaces and the FMCG channel) in 2025

[1] The analysis included all products in the form of aerosols, sprays, drops, lyophilisates, and powders for solution preparation containing seawater and sodium chloride, as well as specialized devices intended for nasal and throat rinsing and irrigation, registered as medicinal products, medical devices, or cosmetic products.