The top ten players' share of the Romanian drug market advanced to 54% at the end of the first half, after late last year they held less than 53% of the market, according to the data released by Cegedim market research firm. UK's GlaxoSmithKline remained in the lead on the domestic market in the first six months of this year, being followed, as last year, by Switzerland's Hoffmann La Roche and by Sanofi-Aventis.
As a matter of fact, no changes occurred in terms of top ten players' positions, while the second half of the ranking .saw considerable modifications. Domestic producer Sindan Pharma climbed one position to the 12th spot, like Menarini, which came out 13th. Ozone Laboratories took the biggest leap, two positions, ranking 14th. Meanwhile, the US' Schering Plough dropped three positions, ranking 15th, while Gedeon Richter slipped one position to 16.
Overall, the pharmaceutical market resumed its steady growth in the second quarter, while having posted weaker results in the first three months.
Thus, sales of pharmaceutical products in the second quarter reached 1.32bn RON (375m euros), Cegedim data reveal. Under the circumstances, total sales of pharmaceutical products went up by 14.5% during the July 2005-June 2006 period.
Drug sales through pharmacies posted the highest growth, by over 20%, while sales to hospitals dropped by some 0.8%. At the same time, sales of drugs released through medical prescriptions rose by around 19.2%, while sales of over-the-counter drugs saw stronger growth, by 23%.
Among drug categories, drugs for the cardiovascular system did best, increasing by 31.5%, followed by drugs for the central nervous system and the muscular-skeletal system.
Pharmaceutical market progression was also helped during this period by price reductions operated by the Health Ministry.
Despite the progress in the first h
