Novartis/Tamro Swedish Distribution Agreement

Swiss drugmaker Novartis has signed an agreement with Finish group Tamrofor the distribution of all its medicines by the latter's subsidiary ADA AB in Sweden. A deal for a similar arrangement in Finland was signed earlier by the two companies.

In a statement from Tamro, Novartis' sales in Sweden for 1996 were put at 700 million Swedish kroner ($91 million). The deal will also "strengthen the realization of the Nordic Concept benefits," a single-channel system, with pharmaceutical distribution based in agreements between the drug plant and the distributor, which, says Tamro, is unique to Finland and Sweden.

Tamro also announced that its group sales for the January-April 1997 period amounted to 4.07 billion markka ($797.8 million), down 1% on the previous year. The decline is attributed to a change in the Swedish reimbursement system, which led to hoarding of drugs. Swedish turnover for the period was down 11% to 2.35 billion markka.