ISTANBUL - The Turkish pharmaceuticals market is expected to grow as much
as 12 percent in 2009 despite the economic crisis, the chief executive of
Bayer's Turkey unit said Wednesday.
Sebastian Guth told a news conference the pharmaceuticals sector was less
vulnerable to the economic crisis than the auto, white goods and construction
sectors and was set to grow by between 9 percent and 12 percent this year in
Turkish lira terms.
Turkey has the sixth fastest-growing drug market in Europe and expanded 24
percent between 2001 and 2008 to $8.9 billion, reported Reuters. Government
health coverage is boosting spending on drugs in Turkey despite a system of
reference pricing which makes drug prices significantly lower than in the rest
of Europe.
A
number of Western drug makers such as GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and Novartis
compete with local companies in the Turkish market. Bayer's own sales reached
235.9 million euros in Turkey in the first nine months of 2008 and the company
expected per capita drug consumption to rise to $268 in 2012 from $165 in 2008.
Meanwhile, yesterday business daily Referans reported that the Turkish
government was planning to implement an increase of 8 percent in the price of
medicines in April. The increase, which will take effect the week after local
elections on March 29, is designed to compensate pharmacists for a fall in the
value of the lira against the euro.
