Romania's drug market grows 10% y/y in Jan-Sept - Cegedim

In the third quarter alone, the value of medications prescribed to patients rose by 5.2% to 2.88 billion lei, Cegedim Romania said in a press release.

"If 2012 ends with a growth of 9.3%, under almost unconditional support from producers, the forecasted growth for 2013 will be modest, at around 1.4% in lei, which under the conditions of deteriorating exchange rates would mean a shrinkage of 1.3% in euro and 1.7% in dollars," Cegedim Romania general manager Petru Craciun said.

The retail segment generated sales worth 7.4 billion lei in the nine months through September, up by 10.7% on the year, and 2.5 billion lei in the third quarter alone, up by 5.3%. Sales of prescription drugs totalled 6.2 billion lei, while over-the-counter drug sales amounted to 1.2 billion lei.

The hospital segment generated sales of 1.17 billion over the review period, up 17.9%.

In the 12 months through September the value of the pharmaceutical market in Romania rose by 14.5% to 11.6 billion lei.

French drug maker Sanofi, including Zentiva and Sanofi-Pasteur Group, had the largest market share in Romania in the third quarter with sales of 241.0 million lei, followed by Switzerland’s Hoffmann La Roche with sales worth 220.2 million lei. Local drug maker Antibiotice posted sales worth 70.4 million lei in the third quarter.

(1 euro = 4.5397 Romanian lei)