Pharmaceutical market sees highest quarterly growth in four years: 35% in Q2

The domestic pharmaceutical market rose by 26% in the first six months of this year, to over 4.8bn RON (1.15bn euros), sustained by the second quarter trend, according to a ZF estimate based on data provided by Cegedim Romania market research firm.
While most sectors of the economy skidded further in the first half of the year, the pharmaceutical market is one of the few that continued to grow in 2009, together with private clinics and energy.
In the second quarter of 2010, the market advanced by 35% against 2009, to 2.5bn RON (610m euros), according to Cegedim data, the best performance in four years.
In the wake of second quarter figures, Cegedim has upwardly revised its projection for the pharmaceutical market's advance this year from 2.5% to 5.6%.
Drug sales went up by 17.6% in the first quarter in RON and by 22% in euros, and in April-June 2009 advanced by 4.7% in RON, but slid by 8.8% in euros, according to Cegedim data.
At the same time, drug sales volumes in April-June climbed by 12.6% mainly on the 14.2% advance in pharmacies, while in hospitals the volume shrank by 11.2%.