Expert points out: the number of pharmacies increased by 7% in the first quarter

At the meeting of Russian Association of Pharmaceutical Marketing (RAFM), ​​which took place on September 28, leading analytical agencies presented the results of the pharmaceutical market development in the first half of 2017.

As the general director of ALPHARM Anna Ermolayeva noted, the total market volume (excluding dietary supplements and additional range of goods) amounted to 570 billion rubles in value and 2.5 billion packages in volume. By the first half of 2017, it showed an increase of 10%.

"Since the end of 2016, we started noticing double-digit growth rates in the retail segment of the pharmaceutical market. This trend continued in early 2017, with growth of 16%, 13%, and 11%. However, by the middle of the year, the growth rates returned to one-digit values such as 8%," Anna Ermolayeva said.

During the first quarter of 2017, the retail segment showed a growth of 13%, with the growth of 12% (in national currencies) in the first half of the year.

The structure of the pharmaceutical market remains unchanged, the analyst noted. The retail segment with its higher growth rates in the national currency amounts to 70%.

The analysts estimate the total amount of the pharmacies’ market (including drugs, dietary supplements, and additional goods) as 546 billion rubles.

"It grows faster than the market of pharmaceutical products. This suggests that the volumes of dietary supplements and of additional products are growing, "Anna Ermolayeva explained.

The growing quantity of pharmacies is the noticeable trend for the last three years. Based on the results of the first quarter of 2017, their number increased by 7%. The tendency towards consolidation of the market is also evident. The top 100 pharmacy chains (including pharmaceutical unions and marketing associations) accumulate 60% of the market. ASNA remains the undisputed leader of the rating.

"We often hear that the pharmacy market does not grow as fast as we say it does: 13% growth of sales of the whole range of goods, and 10% as to drug sales. Indeed, if you look at the segment "life to life", its growth amounts to 3%. This suggests that the number of pharmacy outlets is growing, and the revenue per pharmacy does not, although there are some changes there too,” Anna Ermolayeva explains.

In the TOP 20 corporations, which currently control 53% of the market, no significant changes or fluctuations are observed. There is, however, a clear trend towards consolidation.

As for the preferential drug provision segment, the influence of the import substitution program is clearly visible. The VED drugs segment is the most susceptible to this trend.

As the general director of DSM Group Sergey Shulyak pointed out, the growth of the pharmaceutical market is slow. There are no factors that would contribute to any drastic changes in the market situation in the near future.

"The results are getting slightly more stable, but the growth rates are still much lower than they used to be before the crisis," he added.

In the first half of 2017, DSM Group recorded an interesting fact: the prices for medicinal products are falling; the inflation is minus 2%. According to Sergei Shulyak, this indicates that both pharmacies and distributors are struggling to attract customers. However, based on the experience, the demand usually grows in the second half of the year because of growing morbidity, people becomes less sensitive to the cost of drugs, and everything resumes its normal course.

"However, we can predict that the current year’s inflation will not exceed the inflation of 2016," the analyst noted.

The senior business development manager of IMS Health Russia and the CIS Anton Kalyapin noted one more trend: a confident leadership of Russian companies in developing their own production. This concerns not only the cheap drugs segment, but also the segment of average priced drugs. According to IMS forecasts, the growth of the pharmaceutical market based on the results of 2017 will amount to no more than 8%.

 

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