The pharmaceutical market also rose by volume in the analysed period, up over 5% from the previous year.
The study also shows the pharmaceutical market reached a total RON3.2 billion in the second quarter of 2017. Prescription drugs continue to dominate 74% of the market, with sales of RON2.1 billion, followed by over-the-counter (OTC) drugs, with sales of RON722 million. The segment of medicine drugs released in hospitals still hold the lowest share, with RON410 million.
The pharmaceutical market saw a slight decline compared with the second quarter of 2016, on the backdrop of cost-volume contracts, which saw decreases of over 80% from the year-earlier period. Prescription drugs fell 7.5%, OTCs rose 19%, keeping the upward trend, and drugs released in hospitals also saw an increase of nearly 15%.
The ranking of largest pharmaceutical companies is led by U.S. firm AbbVie, with sales of nearly RON900 million between July 2016 and June 2017, and is followed by French group Sanofi, with sales of RON878 million, and by Swiss firm Novartis with sales of RON619 million during the same period.