BERN – Pharmaceutical sales in Switzerland increased by 2.2% last year, against 0.9% in 2011. Taking into account demographic growth, the increase in the elderly population and the expansion of the offer of medicines, this progression is to be considered moderate. This is what emerges from a study conducted by the IMS Health Institute and presented today in Bern to the press by Interpharma, the Association of Swiss Pharmaceutical Research Companies, and by vips, the Association of Pharmaceutical Companies in Switzerland.
Excluding price corrections – especially downwards – that occurred during the year, revenue growth would have been 5%, indicated Gregor Pfister of IMS Health. Conversely, the new drugs launched in 2012 had a positive influence on sales.
According to the analysis conducted by IMS Health on the basis of the prices indicated by the manufacturers, in 2012 the turnover reached 5.08 billion francs, up by 2.2% compared to the previous year (4.97 billion) .
Three segments, which together account for about a quarter of the entire market, drove sales: drugs against autoimmune diseases, anticancer drugs and antivirals. In fact, immunosuppressants have recorded a progression of 16% to around 450 million francs. The turnover of anticancer drugs grew by 9.9%, while that of antivirals by 10.3%.
As regards sales of drugs reimbursed by health insurance funds, growth was above average, with 3.6%, at 4.15 billion francs. Many in-patent medicines have lost ground to off-patent medicines and generics. The latter recorded above-average growth: +11.7%, to 548 million francs.
According to the IMS Health survey, no
