The evolution of pharmaceutical sales in the first quarter compared to the previous quarter was better than expected due to over-the-counter (OTC) products, especially seasonal medicines.
Due to recently announced price decreases, Cegedim has revised its forecast for 2015 from a growth of 3.5% to a decline of 2.8% expressed in lei and warned about a considerable drop in the availability of cheap products in the second half of the year.
OTC drugs sales reached value of RON0.63 billion, up 27.7%, and sales to hospitals reached RON0.38 billion, up 11.5% compared to the first quarter of 2014.
In the past 12 months, Romania’s pharmaceutical market stood at RON12.6 billion, up 10% compared to the previous 12 months (April 2013-March 2014).
In lei, sales of prescription drugs (Rx) grew 7.4% in pharmacies, OTC sales grew 20.6% and hospital sales grew 11.7%.
Sanofi (including Zentiva) remained the top player with RON862.8 million, followed by Hoffmann La Roche with sales of RON801.7 million and Servier (including Egis) with RON705.4 million.
The top ten is completed by Novartis (including Sandoz) with RON698.6 million, Pfizer (RON622.3 million), GlaxoSmithKline (RON553.8 million), Ranbaxy (RON542.4 million), AstraZeneca (RON527.6 million), Merck & Co (RON396.7 million) and Krka (RON383.5 million).