8% increase in Bulgarian pharmaceutical market in 2009
2010-02-04
The Bulgarian pharmaceutical market grew by 8.1% year on year in terms of value in 2009, reaching BGN 1.72bn (€880m), according to IMS Health. The growth of the market, which exceeded even optimistic forecasts, was fuelled in part by the A(H1N1) scare in the autumn of 2009 and an increasing number of hospital purchases. Hospital segment grew at a more rapid rate, 14.1% year on year in terms of value, than pharmacy business – 6.9% annual growth. However, the substantial growth in the former subdivision did not necessarily lead to actual revenues because of the fact that hospitals often delay payments by as much as 24 months. Hospital debts relating to payments of medicines come to BGN 280m (€143.4m), a quarter of which is overdue, whereas the hospital subgroup was worth BGN 298m (€152.6) last year.
In 2009, the prevalent trend on the Bulgarian pharmaceutical market was an increase in high-margin OTC products and dermocosmetics offered by pharmacies, in order to counterbalance reductions in state-regulated margins on Rx drugs.
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