International producers in the pharmaceutical industry have put off launches for tens of drugs on the Romanian market this year, given that the price at which products are registered in Romania is lower than in 12 other European countries. "We have put off launch of eight products set for launch in 2009 indefinitely," says Simona Melnic, head of market access of Novartis Pharma Services. Novartis ranks fourth among the top players in the pharmaceutical industry with a 6% market share and 115 million RON (27 million euros) in sales in the third quarter of this year. Sales of the eight products were put at over one million euros. As for 2010, Simona Melnic specifies all approvals are on stand by at present. In Europe, the price of prescription drugs is calculated in relation to prices in other countries, so a much lower price in Romania could influence the price set on other European markets. Dan Zaharescu, executive manager of the Romanian Association of International Drug Manufacturers (ARPIM), said each of the 26 members of the association had at least one launch scheduled, so at least 26 products were not introduced onto the Romanian market this year. ARPIM members include Pfizer, Novartis, Merck and GlaxoSmithKline. In April this year, the Health Ministry set new prices on drugs, based on a change in the calculation methodology, which resulted in price cuts by an average 10%. According to ARPIM, these prices stimulated the rise of parallel exports (acquisition of products from Romania to be resold at higher prices), which amount to around 5-7% of drug sales, i.e. around 100 million euros, according to ZF estimates.