Birth control market low

Sales of contraceptives in Romania are still quite low, despite the diversification of the existing products. Thus, estimations point to a value of this market of merely four or five million dollars.

Geert Seifert, general manager of Schering Romania pharmaceutical company distributing fertility control products on the Romanian market, says that the value of this market is low, because only 11% of the fertile women use such products.

“Sales of such products to hospitals have dropped against last year, because of the debts hospitals currently have,” Seifert said.

“On the gynaecologic products market, sales have registered a slight increase over the last few years because patients buy from pharmacies on the basis of prescriptions,” he added.

According to Seifert, the contraceptive market last year reached three million foils, holding 21 dragées each.

The company, which distributes other products as well, expects an 11% rise in sales for this year, against last year, when sales ranged between 10 and 10.5 million euros. In 2002, the increase was of 15%.

“To reach the targets we’ve set, we plan to focus more on products that sell better through pharmacies, rather than hospitals,” said Schering’s manager.

Besides contraceptives, the German company also brings to the Romanian market dermatological products, contrast substances (for X ray or MRI diagnosis) and therapeutic products in the domain of oncology, cardiovascular and neurological diseases.

Schering has recently launched a new contraceptive with cosmetic effects. The product costs 335,000 ROL per one 21-pill foil, and Seifert stated that he expected this product to gain 2,500 users this year. Should each consumer buy the product just once, sales would come to total 30,000 dollars.

Schering drugs are exclusively imported products, with the company collaborating with over 20 distributors.

In Romania, Schering, which came here for the first time in 1905, has 54 employees. Schering’s main rivals are Gedeon Richter (Hungary), Organon (Netherlands), Weyth (Germany) and Searle (England).

At present, consumers can chose from a multitude of contraceptive products, but the most popular product is still the condom. claudia.covaci@zf.ro