QuintilesIms, market in pharmacies at the end of the year +1%

At the end of the year the overall pharmacy market it should close with growth in values around 1%, mainly driven by the commercial sector. This is the estimate coming from QuintilesIms on the basis of the surveys relating to the first half year, which see the channel grow overall by 0.7%. The increase, according to the data, is the result of the +2% recorded by the free sale segments and by the invariance of the ethical market (class A and C drugs), which closed in June at -0.1%. «In the commercial department» explains Giorgio Cenciarelli, QuintilesIms Supplier Services director to Filodiretto «the Otc segment, +3%, the hygiene and beauty segment, +1%, and above all nutraceuticals, show an interesting growth of 7.5% and achieve a turnover of around 1,350 million euro. The estimate, for this segment, is that the turnover will reach around 2,700 million at the end of the year, mainly driven by the performance of probiotics, tonics, cholesterol-based and mineral-based supplements».

The estimates of QuintilesIms are also worthy of reflection on expenditure for reimbursed medicines: the NHS market in pharmacies, according to the analyzes, should close at the end of the year by around 400 million euros under the reference ceiling for the agreement (8.9 billion), spending on purchases by the local health hospitals (i.e. hospital plus direct distribution, according to the new allocation of ceilings) should instead break through its budget by around 2 billion (7.7 billion). «From this year» concludes Cenciarelli «this item of expenditure also includes the dpc, which in the first 6 months of 2017 grew by 12.7% compared to the same period of 2016».

(AS – Federfarma – 04/09/2017)