Pharmacia OTC On Acquisitions TrailIn France

Swedish pharmaceuticals group Pharmacia is negotiating several acquisitions in the French over-the-counter medicines market. This predominantly research-based drugmaker is virtually unrepresented in the OTC sector in France and in several other countries.

Pharmacia France president Sven Andreasson said that a move into non-prescription products is one way of spreading the risk between the hospitals, the general practitioner and the OTC segments of the market. He added that the current negotiations are for companies that could add 120-150 million French francs ($22.1-$27.7 million) annually to sales.

Pharmacia has only one mass-market product in France at present, and that is its smoking cessation product Nicorette, with sales of 17 million francs, though the product is available only on prescription and is not reimbursed by social security. The company is talking to the drugs agency, the AM, to see whether Nicorette could be transferred to the non-prescription list because, according to Mr Andreasson, this would push sales up to about 40 million francs annually. In France, Pharmacia's total sales have risen about 2%-3% in 1994 to 1.1 billion francs.