Vaccine business close to 50m euros

Vaccine sales on the Romanian market last year got close to 50m euros, a sum including private sales in pharmacies, of around 35.7m euros, and the Health Ministry’s acquisitions, of 11.8m euros, according to a ZF survey. Of this sum, the AH1N1 vaccine accounted for 5-6m euros, as calculated by ZF. “Unpredictable trends, undeveloped market, this is how we can describe the vaccine market of our country,” stated the representatives of Sanofi Pasteur, the biggest player on this market, part of Sanofi-Aventis. Most of the vaccine sales were operated through pharmacies, with their value slightly rising by 6.3% in euros to 35.7m euros, according to IMS Health data. Sales through pharmacies were influenced by the Health Ministry’s acquisitions, and companies in this industry say there are no bases for major changes in 2010. In terms of units, the retail market dropped by 17.8% to 2.6 million units. As for pharmacy networks, vaccine sales followed an upward trend in terms of value and a downward one in terms of volume.