“We plan to reach a network of 180 pharmacies by the end of next year,” said Isabelle Iacob, Help Net general manager.
Help Net Farma posted 375 million lei (EUR84 million) revenue and had 1,228 employees last year. The network is part of the Farmexim group, which also includes the pharmaceutical wholesaler by the same name and cosmetics importer and wholesaler Green Net.
“The increase in pharmaceuticals consumption by 1% or 2%, the increase of generic drug share in the total and the improvement in payment terms to suppliers with a positive impact on the pharmaceutical market and patients are the main trends of the pharmaceutical retail market in 2014,” Iacob said.
The main pharmacy chains continued to expand over the last few years and gain ground so the leading chains are now past 400 each. The number of retail pharmacies in cities is capped based on demographic criteria.
In Bucharest, for instance, there can only be one pharmacy per every 3,000 people and as a result, networks seeking to expand can only do it by buying already existing licenses (pharmacies). On the other hand, there is no such cap in rural areas.
A new retail pharmacy may cost EUR60,000 to EUR500,000, depending on location and size, managers in this business say.
Isabelle Iacob says one of the trends of the pharmaceutical retail by 2018 is to expand and open pharmacies in rural areas.
The largest retail pharmacy chains are Catena, Sensiblu, Dona, Help Net, Ropharma, Centrofarm, but they are not the only ones operating on this market.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)