Generics favored over innovative drugs in central and eastern Europe

The generics market in central and eastern Europe was worth almost 12.0 billion euros ($15.14 billion) in 2006, representing more than 50% of the value of the pharmaceutical sector in the region, says the PMR market research group. By way of comparison, the share of generics as a proportion of total European Union drug sales is around 40%. For innovative companies, the CEE region is a comparatively difficult theater of operations due to its relatively small amount of per capita spending on medicines and the pro-generic policies of the majority of governments.

Of the CEE countries, copy medicines have the most substantial shares of the market in terms of value in Ukraine, Russia and Poland, where the respective governments, are reluctant to put novel drugs on their reimbursement lists. In Ukraine, where there is no reimbursement system, patients simply have to choose cheaper generics (the average price of these is some 70% less than that of the originals). Innovative treatment is simply too expensive for the majority of the public. Another reason is the negligible R&D activity of Ukrainian companies, says PMR. One important current market trend is the increase in the share of branded generics and the reduction in that of nameless products.

Poland's attitude shifting slightly