Russian Drug Sales Expanding At 10%-15%

Russia's drug market nearly doubled in the last five years, rising10%-15% a year, and will grow from $5 billion to $8-$9 billion a year by 2000, when foreign firms will have virtually 80% of the market, up from 70% now, reports the Vremya drug group.

Eastern European, Turkish and Indian drugs now have 50% of the market, it says. In the early 1990s, firms from these countries (including western majors' subsidiaries) expanded generics distribution, while Russian firms continued to produce using 30-year-old technology. Getting involved in western generic output as soon as possible could provide Russian firms with their only chance of survival, says Vremya group marketing director Alexei Slavich. Only 20 of Russia's 200-plus drugmakers have annual turnover of $30-$40 million, and so could launch generics, he says, while the rest are "doomed to die off."

- Retail drug sales in Moscow grew from 1,500 billion rubles to ,.2500 billion rubles ($389.4 million) during 1995-96, following an experiment by the city's pharmacy committee to streamline the market, regularizing prescriptions to patients qualifying for free drugs or discounts.