Romania’s pharmaceutical sales in the 12 months ending June 2012 increased by 13.6% y/y (16.9% y/y in local currency) to EUR 2.6bn (RON 11.5bn), backed by the good performance in the period Jul 2011 – Mar 2012. In Q2/2012, medicine sales dropped by 2.5% y/y to EUR 626mn (RON 2.77bn), compared to the 18% y/y expansion in Q1. In local currency, sales still managed to post positive 4.4% y/y growth in Q2, but the advance eased significantly from the 21.6% y/y surge in the previous quarter. The slowdown in growth pace (in RON) and the moderate decline of the market in volume terms (down by 0.5% y/y in Q2) reveal companies’ tendency to shift focus from market share expansion to profitability, after the government’s attempt to enforce the claw-back tax.
Figure 1 Pharma annual sales in 2004 – 2012 (EUR mn, PPP)
Projections for the performance of the pharma market this year remain largely on the optimistic side, ranging from 5.7% y/y to 8.9% y/y growth in local currency. Nonetheless, the evolution of the market will be largely impacted by regulatory measures such as the controversial clawback tax amended this August and also by the budget allotted for subsidized drugs.
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