Romania’s pharmaceutical market heads to record sales in 2018

The pharmaceutical market in Romania will reach record sales this year, as the Romanians’ appetite for pills and treatments is stimulated by media advertising campaigns and the crisis in the local healthcare system. The total drug market may thus reach RON 50 billion (EUR 10.7 billion), according to financial research firm Keysfin. The estimate takes into account the total revenues of the drug production, distribution and retail companies in Romania and not the actual value of drug sales, which are lower. The total turnover of these companies went up from RON 37.9 billion (EUR 8.4 billion) in 2012 to RON 47.9 billion (EUR 10.5 billion) in 2017, according to Keysfin. In 2012, the companies in the pharmaceutical sector had a total profit of RON 1.65 billion (EUR 366 million). The profit reached RON 2.38 billion (EUR 521 million) in 2017 and may go up to RON 2.53 billion this year. In 2016, Romania had 158 drug producers and over 6,700 distributors and retailers. The biggest local producers are Terapia, Antibiotice and Sandoz while the biggest distributors are Mediplus Exim and Farmexpert DCI. editor@romania-insider.com