Pharmaceuticals market falls sharply

The drugs market took a plunge in April and May after growth of more than 20% in the first quarter. The sharp downturn of this market was caused by the state running out of funds for subsidised drugs.

“The pharmaceuticals market suffered a contraction of approximately 20% in April, compared with the previous month, and then a further 15-20% in May,” said Iulian Trandafir, the executive manager of Farmexpert, a pharmaceuticals distributor.

“Consumption in May was lower than in April in terms of value, due to the recalculation of prices of imported drugs in dollars. Consumption in June is even lower, due to the decrease in margins for drug distributors and also the introduction of a new reference price for non-prescription drugs,” said Marius Savu, the chairman of the Association of International Drug Makers and chief executive of Eli Lilly Romania.

His estimates indicate a 30% decline in average consumption for subsidised and free drugs since the beginning of the year, from 1,800bn ROL (approximately 50 million euros) to 1,200bn ROL (33 million euros) per month.

“We cannot quantify the effect of the crisis on the market precisely until the issues with subsidised drug prescriptions are addressed. What”s for sure, however, is that sales by pharmaceutical companies have fallen since the beginning of the second quarter,” said Mirel Nicola, the development director of drug maker Sicomed Bucharest.

Terapia Cluj-Napoca representatives also said that total sales on the pharmaceuticals market had fallen by around 25% since the beginning of the second quarter.

The drop occurred mainly among small independent drug stores that were unable to renegotiate their contracts with the National Health Insurance Office, industry representatives say. Small drug stores account for some 85% of all stores in Romania.

alexandru.cerchez@zf.ro