“The 5% increase was budgeted for the case the list was updated. This was supposed to happen on January 1. Now, it’s almost April 1 and it has not been updated. We must consider all possibilities, and when we set the budget we choose one of them, the most likely one. But we also have plan B, C and D for either favorable or unfavorable situations,” said Dan Zamonea, general manager of Roche Romania in an interview with ZF.
Roche Romania is the domestic subsidiary of Switzerland’s pharmaceutical giant Roche and last year climbed onto the first position among the largest players in the industry, outrunning rival Sanofi, according to data provided by Cegedim Romania. Roche has filled this position in the past, but only for one year, in 2008.
The Swiss company’s portfolio includes only prescription drugs. Zamonea says it was not Roche’s plan to reach the top position on the pharma market, as the group does not have this ambition globally, either. From the group’s point of view, Roche is among the world’s four largest drug makers.
“2013 was an outstanding year, but we also had some changes on the pharmaceutical market and in the health system. Primarily, payment terms decreased. They somewhat fell into line with the other countries. The impact was a positive one as one of the delicate issues of the Romanian pharmaceutical market was solved”.
In 2013, the Health Ministry decided to shorten terms along which the state pays for reimbursed drugs from over 300 days to 90 days.
Roche is among the most dynamic companies on the pharmaceutical market, which managed to get 30% revenue increases in the past. Now, Roche’s revenue predictions are more cautious.
Roche Romania’s sales amounted to 928 million lei (EUR210 million) in 2013, at producer price level. Globally, Roche’s revenue revolves around EUR40 billion.
Dan Zamonea states that at the level of the group, the situation of the Romanian pharmaceutical market is raising some question marks as the list of reimbursed drugs has not been updated for six years.
“Compared with other countries, Romania is still a dilemma and the fact that until a year ago payment terms were huge raised a question mark on Romania’s economic stability and creditworthiness. For the time being, these question marks have disappeared, but have been replaced by others, related to the list update”.
Thus, inside Roche group, Romania is not seen as a strategic country, Zamonea concluded.
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)