Romania's pharma market fell in the last quarter of 2015

The value of drugs disbursed to patients in Romania reached RON 2.86 billion at distribution price in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2015, decreasing by 14.3 percent year-on-year, according to a study by Cegedim, the data provider for the pharmaceutical industry.

In 2015, prescription drugs (Rx) in pharmacies reached a value of RON 1.86 billion, registering a decrease of 20.8 percent. Prescription-free drugs (OTC), on the other hand, reached a value of RON 0.63 billion, increasing by 7.3 percent, and the hospital segment reached RON 0.37 billion, a fall of 8.5 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2014, said the Cegedim study.

Compared to the evolution of the past five quarters, Q4 of 2015 saw “a more accentuated tendency towards falling through negative growth rates, both in units (-6.3 percent) and value, in RON (-14.3 percent) or euro (-14.8 percent),” according to Cegedim.

Citing the price reduction applied in July 2015 as a reason for “a significant fall in this pharmaceutical segment (-20.8 percent in value for -7.1 percent in volume for the fourth quarter of 2015),” Petru Craciun, general director of Cegedim further commented that the segment is the most important on the market, “both in terms of value, and therapeutical importance.”

As far as the volume of prescription drugs released by pharmacies to patients is concerned, it went down by 7.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015 year-on-year, breaching the availability alert threshold for the first time since 2000, according to the Cegedim study.

“Many prescription drugs can no longer be found or it is very difficult to do so,” added Craciun. This comes after earlier in the day, APMGR warned that the undifferentiated clawback tax was endangering the number of generic drugs available on the market.

Regarding the evolution of the main therapeutical groups, the past 12 months saw increases in volume over the market average in medication for the respiratory system (3.7 percent) and for the digestive and metabolism system (3.0 percent).