The cardiovascular drug market could reach 300 million euros this year, over 35% more against last year, due to an increase in the funds allocated by the CNAS (National Health Insurance Office).

"Market growth is only natural for a country like Romania because increasingly more patients have access to more money, coupled with the fact that the number of people seeing a doctor, being diagnosed and then treated has also gone up," said Simona Mihai, marketing and sales manager at Terapia Ranbaxy.

She says it was the availability of generic drugs on the market that largely helped more patients get access to healthcare.

"There are many conditions that require the patient to take more than one drug at the same time, given that prices of medication are far too high, patients don't take their full course, so treatment is not complete and their recovery becomes more difficult," Simona Mihai added.

Last year the cardiovascular drugs market had the biggest share in the pharmaceutical market as a whole, also witnessing the fastest growth pace. It was the first time in ten years that the value of this market had exceeded that of anti-infectious systemic drugs.

The value of sales on this segment reached 223 million euros, 5.7% more than in 2004.

"This trend will probably continue. In Romania, cardiovascular diseases are the main cause of death, responsible for 60% of all sickness-related deaths. It is only natural that the treatment of these diseases with the highest incidence and the toughest consequences should account for the most in relative terms when it comes to drug-related expenses," said Marcian Gavrilescu, general manager of LaborMed Pharma Trading.

But what are the causes that generate such a big advance of this market?

"The growth of the market was generated by better funding of the public health insurance system in Roman