“The second quarter decrease was mainly due to the flaws generated by the price cut process, with all its inconveniences for patients, as well as for pharmacies and distributors. For 2015, we maintain the forecast of 2.8% fall in lei, but we also expect other evolutions due to the availability and sustainability issues in the system,” said Petru Craciun, Cegedim general manager.
The sales of prescription drugs (Rx) reached a value of RON1.92 billion, down 10.4% on the year, while sales of over-the-counter drugs (OTC) stood at RON0.53 billion, up 14.5% on the year. Sales to hospitals reached RON0.37 billion, up 10.5% compared to the second quarter of 2014.
In January-June 2015, the total value of the pharmaceutical market stood at RON6.09 billion, up 3.3% from the corresponding period a year earlier. In lei, sales of prescription drugs (Rx) fell 1.9% in pharmacies, OTC sales grew 21.3% and hospital sales grew 11%.
In the past 12 months, Romania’s pharmaceutical market stood at RON12.48 billion, up 7.5% compared to the previous 12 months (July 2013-June 2014). In lei, sales of prescription drugs (Rx) grew 3.6% in pharmacies, OTC sales grew 20.8% and hospital sales grew 13.1%.
Sanofi (including Zentiva) remained the top player with RON859.7 million, followed by Hoffmann La Roche with sales of RON761.7 million and Novartis (including Sandoz) with RON700.1 million.
The top ten is completed by Servier (including Egis) with RON681.6 million, Pfizer (RON592.9 million), GlaxoSmithKline (RON549 million), Sun Pharma (including Terapia) with RON540 million, AstraZeneca (RON512.3 million), Merck & Co (RON387.6 million) and Krka (RON378.7 million).