The chain set out to reach the 100 pharmacy mark in 2017.
“We’re on schedule with our 2017 business targets so far. As has been discussed lately, getting drugs supplied has become more and more difficult both because of the availability (or lack thereof) certain drugs that are prescribed and issued in other EU countries at higher prices, and because of other drugs dropping so much in price that producing them no longer makes economic sense,” Anton Aldea, chief executive of the Belladonna pharmacies, told ZF.
Belladonna posted about 220 million lei (EUR48 million) sales last year, the same as in 2015. It budgeted growth of 5% to about RON230 million in 2017.
The pharmacy chain works with a number of wholesalers, but also went to producers to secure its stock of drugs. It signed contracts via a company in its group with pharmaceutical producers Antibiotice Iasi, Biofarm, Krka, Labormed/Alvogen, Reckitt Benckiser, Teva and others last year. All these companies have sizeable generic drugs portfolios, Aldea said.
“This year we’re buying drugs, nutritional supplements and cosmetics straight from the major Romanian and foreign producers via a company in our group, BLD Pharma, to ensure uninterrupted supply.”
Belladonna is not part of the top five pharmaceutical retailers in the country by number of pharmacies but is a significant player in Bucharest where most of its pharmacies are. (EUR1=RON4.5511)
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)