Pharmaceutical industry in Romania - statistics & facts
The pharmaceutical industry is experiencing rapid and significant growth in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). In 2021, Romania’s pharmaceutical market had a revenue of over 3.9 billion euros, making it the second biggest pharmaceutical market in the CEE region after Poland. Over the last decade, pharmaceutical products export has been constantly increasing, registering a total export value of 989 million euros in 2022.
Unfortunately, research and development (R&D) expenditure in the pharmaceutical industry has decreased considerably over the last few years. By 2021, they dropped by 71 percent. Nonetheless, Romania’s pharmaceutical industry is expected to attract substantial investments in the upcoming years due to national tax incentives, competitive labor costs, and the rise of online pharmacies.
The COVID-19 pandemic also led to a growth in pharmaceutical sales. The pharmaceutical drugs production sector has increased by nearly 30 percent from 2020 to 2022, peaking at 5.7 billion Romanian lei. Moreover, in the first eight months of 2020, the number of paracetamol units sold in Romania also significantly increased. However, Nurofen remained the most popular pain relief medication, with more than 9.7 million units sold in 2020.
Pharmacies
The number of pharmacies in Romania has slightly variated in recent years, peaking at 8,181 units in 2021, then slightly dropping to 8,135 units by 2022. Nevertheless, the pharmaceutical market in Romania has recently strengthened. The biggest pharmacy chains have expanded considerably, while smaller pharmacies were disadvantaged. By the end of 2022, Catena had the highest number of pharmacies in the country, followed by Dr. Max, with 769 drugstores. Consequently, Catena remained the most important company in the pharmaceutical retail sector, totaling a revenue worth 6.3 billion Romanian lei. Romania ranked among the top five European countries with the highest rate of pharmacies per capita, recording a rate of 6.1 pharmacies per 10,000 inhabitants in urban areas.COVID-19 impact
Pharmaceutical companies have not experienced severe drops in revenues in 2020 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Moreover, several laboratories in Romania were accredited by the Ministry of Health in order to conduct and provide polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing services to the population. This led to significant increases in revenues of PCR testing laboratories.The COVID-19 pandemic also led to a growth in pharmaceutical sales. The pharmaceutical drugs production sector has increased by nearly 30 percent from 2020 to 2022, peaking at 5.7 billion Romanian lei. Moreover, in the first eight months of 2020, the number of paracetamol units sold in Romania also significantly increased. However, Nurofen remained the most popular pain relief medication, with more than 9.7 million units sold in 2020.
