Contents:

FOR EVERY MARKET, SENT QUARTERLY MARKET OUTLOOK - Current market size - Unique 5-Year market projections to 2013 - Market outlook - Comment & rating, covering 8 key areas such as use of generic drugs, intellectual property, pricing and the health systems - Market structure - Statistical data on imports and exports - Market developments, covering recent and impending developments with respect to key issues such as regulation, health facilities, funding and government policy - Key national data projections FOR EVERY MARKET, SENT ANNUALLY BACKGROUND DATA - Population data, including growth trends and age structure - Demographic indicators detailing principal causes of death and morbidity HEALTHCARE SYSTEM - Organisation & administration Health expenditure - Expenditure by source of funding and type Hospital services - Hospital data such as beds by type, region, specialty, patient admissions and surgical procedures - Outpatient care - Medical personnel Data on healthcare professionals covering such areas as doctors by specialty, nursing staff and dentists ACCESSING THE PHARMA MARKET - Regulatory environment - Distribution guide and trade fair information - Domestic production CONTACT DETAILS For healthcare organisations and trade associations

Summary:

Highlights from the report THE REGION Russia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Ukraine represent the five largest markets in the CEE region. Russia has the potential to become one of the worlds largest pharmaceutical markets, due to its population of around 142 million people, but demand remains very low, due to insufficient public healthcare funding. The dominance of generics is a reflection of the poor economic situation; generic drugs account for 90% of the market by volume. The largest markets are also among the fastest-growing in the region, although Romania and Serbia are also performing well. Other markets of the former Yugoslavia are exhibiting slower, yet respectable growth rates. POLAND Poland has one of the largest populations in Europe and therefore boasts a significant market of US$6.4 billion in 2008. Poland has a well established pharmaceutical industry and manufacturers tend to specialise in the production of generic drugs. Generics have a higher chance of entering the market as they are given priority over patented drugs in bioequivalence tests and are usually placed on the reimbursement list, making them a popular prescription choice. Much of the Polish pharmaceutical industry has now been privatised; many companies have been taken over by foreign investors such as GlaxoSmithKline and IVAX (now Teva). CZECH REPUBLIC The Czech Republic was one of the larger and richer former Soviet bloc countries to join the EU in May 2004. The market is valued at US$3.7 billion in 2008 and its per capita expenditure of US$358 is the second highest in the region. Generics are widely used in the Czech Republic but their share of the market is slowly being eroded by the constant growth of imported patented drugs. As with other recent EU entrants, the Czech Republic is forbidden by the accession treaty to parallel export low-priced branded drugs to the high-price EU markets such as Germany or the UK, if the drug in question has a patent in the target market. HUNGARY Despite its modest population of around 10 million, Hungary is a significant central European market. Per capita expenditure on pharmaceuticals is the third highest in the region and annual growth is strong at 8.9%. Spending on drugs accounts for 28% of total health expenditure in 2008. The drugs budget has run at a deficit for years. This initially prompted the government to introduce price freezes and encourage companies to contribute a percentage of turnover to the Health Insurance Fund. The Pharma Economic Act, which came into force in January 2007, compels pharmaceutical companies to relinquish a larger proportion of their profits to help cover overspending. So far, the new legislation has proved successful in reducing the deficit. ROMANIA At US$2,124 million, the Romanian pharmaceutical market ranks as the sixth largest in the CEE region, although per capita expenditure only exceeds that of Russia and Ukraine. Romania joined the EU in January 2007 and has made much progress in adjusting its legislation. The quality of drug production has risen since the enforcement of GMP on 1st January 2004, although the number of local drug producers fell as a result. Much of the region has been privatised; generics companies such as Actavis and Ranbaxy have recently acquired local companies. BULGARIA The Bulgarian pharmaceutical market is around ten times smaller than the Polish one, but possesses a high growth rate of 9.0%. This rate should be sustainable in view of the GMP enforcement of April 2002 and the subsequent improvements in domestic production, in terms of quality and capacity. Bulgaria became a member of the EU in January 2007 and has harmonised its legislation with EU directives. Improvements have also been made in other areas such as IPR enforcement and legislation; the United States Trade Representative removed Bulgaria from its Special 301 Watch List in 2007 as a result of this. However, the pricing and reimbursement of pharmaceuticals remains an issue. The US industry association, PhRMA, believes that the procedures used to determine the price and reimbursement status of a drug are non-transparent and cumbersome. It notes that arbitrary classification of newer drugs, which are more effective and have fewer side effects, make it more difficult for manufacturers to recover their research and development costs.

Countries Covered

- Bulgaria - Croatia Ukraine - Czech Republic - Hungary - Poland - Romania - Russia - Serbia - Slovakia - Slovenia