As concerns the 3.8 percent increase in value of the pharmaceutical market, Corina Ciolan, General Manager of IMS believes that this is mainly due to the difference in the exchange rate used to pay for imported medications in the first half of 2008 and this year. According to regulations, the price of imported medications is set by the Ministry of Health and paid for at a fixed exchange rate. Last year, this rate was maintained at a level much lower than the real exchange rate, which will lead to an apparent increase in 2009 on the pharmaceutical market.
The Swiss Roche company continues to be leader on the local pharmaceutical market, followed by Sanofi-Aventis, Novartis, GSK, Servier, Pfizer, Zentiva, Ranbaxy, Astra Zeneca, and Schering Plough.
Corina Ciolan is expecting the pharmaceutical market to have a much more challenging third quarter, due to the deepening crisis, but also because of traditionally lower sales in this period.
