In the first half of the year the market increased 3.5%, but the growth was evened out by a 3.3% decline in the third quarter and a 2.4% decline in the fourth.
Expressed in euros, the market increased 1.1% last year, to EUR2.65 billion, accounting exclusively for medicines that went from distributors to patients. Counting parallel exports, pharmaceutical distributors’ sales top EUR3 billion.
“Fourth quarter evolution was worse than expected, which led to a market stagnation for the full year 2013. The availability of medicines in Romania keeps deteriorating due to under-financing and parallel exports and by the elimination of low-priced products,” said Petru Craciun, general manager of Cegedim Romania.
Sales of prescription drugs in pharmacies reached RON8.38 billion (EUR1.89 billion), down 0.8% on the year, while over the counter product sales stood at RON1.77 billion (EUR402.8 million), up 6.5%.
By distribution channels, the hospital segment declined 0.5%, to RON1.58 billion (EUR357 million), while retail (drugstores) stagnated at RON10.1 billion (EUR2.3 billion).
New leader on the drug market
The top 20 hierarchy changed last year, as Roche became market leader, overtaking Sanofi (including Zentiva).
Novartis is still at number three, followed by Servier, Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck & Co, Ranbaxy, AstraZeneca, and Krka.
Antibiotice, Johnson&Johnson, Teva, Abbvie, Menarini, Bristol Myers Squibb, Bayer, Alvogen, Abbott, and Eli Lilly complete the top 20.