Drug sales in Romania will see a small decline this year but will return to growth starting 2015. Future growth, however, will be slower than what the local market showed in the past, according to the new forecast from pharmaceutical consultancy firm Cegedim, quoted by Ziarul Financiar.

Cegedim lowered its projections on the evolution of the local pharmaceutical market both for this year and for the next five years, compared to its initial forecast at the beginning of this year, Ziarul Financiar writes.

The Romanian drug grew by 0.3 percent last year to EUR 2.6 billion (RON 11.75 billion). The evolution was below the initial forecast which indicated a 0.7 percent growth. For this year, Cegedim sees a 0.3 percent decline, and in 2015 the market should return to growth with some 1.8 percent.

Starting 2016, growth should pick up again and reach some 4 to 5 percent a year. This is well below the two figure annual growth which the market saw in the past, up to 2011.

This is mostly due to flat health expenditure from the state, which generates some 60 percent of the total sales for the market.

editor@romania-insider.com