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 (€152.6m) 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.
The best selling medicines in Bulgaria in 2009 were those for the cardiovascular system. These accounted for almost one-quarter of all pharmaceuticals sold. Painkillers accounted for more than any other medicines on the OTC market last year: 21%.
The average Bulgarian citizen bought 33.2 pharmaceutical items in 2009.




In 2009 the hospital market grew faster than the pharmacy market not only in Bulgaria. Also in Poland, the rate of growth in sales to hospitals exceeded the increase in sales to pharmacies, as these two segments grew by around 16% and 8%, respectively.
It is not a surprise that cardiovascular drugs comprised the largest category of drugs on the Bulgarian pharmaceutical market. Cardiovascular diseases are the major health problem among the Bulgarian society. In 2008 they were responsible for close to 65% of all death causes in the country, with ischaemic heart diseases and cerebrovascular diseases having the highest prevalence, according to data from the Bulgaria National Statistical Institute.
Agnieszka Stawarska
PMR Pharmaceutical Market Analyst