BUCHAREST (Romania), September 19 (SeeNews) – Romania's pharmaceuticals market expanded by 16.3% on the year to 3.29 billion lei ($830 million/739 million euro) for the second quarter of 2016, mostly due to a subsidized sales of a new Hepatitis C drug, a survey by market researcher Cegedim Romania showed on Monday.
"Market growth in the second quarter of 2016 was due to two reasons: firstly, the market value for the second quarter of 2015 was unusually small, due to lower prices of prescription drugs, in effect from January 7, 2015, and secondly, due to wider use of a treatment for hepatitis, which marks a first in terms of its significant impact on the market," Cegedim general manager Petru Craciun said.
Sales of prescription drugs reached 2.33 billion lei in the second quarter, up by 20.8% year-on-year, Cegedim said in a press release.
Sales of over-the-counter drugs amounted to 610 million lei, up by 14.7%, while sales of drugs to hospitals decreased by 4.4%, to 360 million lei.
Romania is the EU country with most Hepatitis C cases, according to data from the country's health ministry.
In the first half of 2016, Romania's drug market grew by 3.8% on the year, reaching 6.33 billion lei.
Source: Cegedim Romania
USA's research-based pharmaceuticals company AbbVie, which made a deal with Romanian health ministry for the delivery of its Hepatitis C new drug Viekira Pak in the fall of 2015, led the Romanian market in terms of sales value in the last 12 months with a market share of 7.8% and sales of 932 million lei. It is followed by France’s Sanofi including Zentiva with a 6.8% market share and sales of 815 million lei, and Switzerland's Novartis including Sandoz with a 4.9% market share and sales of 586.3 million lei, Cegedim survey showed.
(1 euro= 4.4519 Romanian lei)