Pharmaceutical market up 10% in first two months

The domestic drug market advanced by 10% in the first two months of this year, to 1.67bn lei (400m euros), according to the data provided by IMS Health market research firm.

The industry was driven upwards both by prescription and OTC drugs.

Corina Ciolan, general manager of IMS Romania, explains that at the level of the first category the 9.3% increase came as a result of payments operated by authorities and of pharmacies being tempted to build inventory, at the start of the year.

On the other hand, OTC drugs, which have a deregulated price, unconstrained by current rules, boasted the best trend on the market. According to IMS Health, OTC drugs account for over one quarter of the market in terms of units and 11% in terms of value.

"While OTC drugs are theoretically sensitive to macro and microeconomic influences, January and February were two good months for this segment," Ciolan also said.

Against the developments of the past two years, January and February 2011 can be seen as slow, considering the drug market rose by 16% in 2010 and by 18.5% in 2009.a