Medicine consumption in Russia falls 7.6% in H1; domestic producers hit hardest
MOSCOW. Aug 6 (Interfax) - The consumption of medicine in Russia declined 7.6% in the first half of 2009 compared to the same period of 2008, the marketing agency DSM Group said in a report.
In nominal terms, the pharmaceutical market expanded 23.8% to 210 billion rubles in end consumer prices.
Domestic medicine producers were hit the hardest by the crisis. Consumption of imported medicines remained at last year's level in the half, while the consumption of Russian produced medicines fell 11%.
Pharmstandard led the market with a 14.78% share in the half followed by Veropharm with 4.81% and Valenta with 4.62%.
The government is currently considering a development strategy for the pharmaceutical industry for the period until 2020 that envisions increasing the share of domestically produced medicines on the market to 50% by value from 20%.