Distributors have contested this decision, saying that more than 1,000 medical products on the market are being imported at prices exceeding sales prices, and that total losses amount to €20 million in Q1 2008.
According to Cegedim market research company, the sale of drugs rose 3.8 percent in the first quarter of this year, to €446.11 million, six times less than that in Q1 2007, of 25.3 percent.
Annual growth on the pharmaceutical market in the fiscal year that ended on March 31 was 6.1 percent, almost half that of last fiscal year, at 11.2 percent.
