The pharmaceutical market in Romania has slowed its growth in the first quarter of this year and registered an advance of 5.6 percent, to EUR 637 million, due to positive sales developments of over the counter products and retail.

“The overall market had a modest increase of 5.6 percent in euro, due to cash flow problems and uncertainty about the issue of releasing products under the compensated system”, said the General Manager of IMS Health Romania, Corina Ciolan.

In volume, the market grew by 5.8 percent to about 133 million units from 125.7 million units recorded in the same period of 2010.

On distribution channels, pharmacies's sales increased during the first three months of this year by 9.2 percent, to EUR 575.6 million. On segments, the prescription drugs stood at EUR 563.3 million in sales, and over the counter products generated EUR 73.7 million in sales, with 11.3 percent more than in the first three months of last year.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com