SCHWARZ PHARMA MAKES STRIDES IN EAST GERMANY

The medium-sized German drugmaker Schwarz Pharma AG has criticized the 25% discount regulation applying to eastern German drugs sales. Board member Patrick Schwarz-Schuette says the government is acting in a contradictory way when on the one hand it encourages industry to make investments in the eastern states while on the other hand maintaining the discount rule.

Schwarz Pharma has recently acquired Isis-Chemie at Zwickau near Dresden and has made rapid strides in the eastern German market with the help of the acquisition. Isis contributed 74 million Deutschemarks ($45 million) in net sales to the Schwarz group for 1991. In a full year, the Isis contribution is estimated at 120 million marks, with 95% of sales achieved in the eastern states. Some 75% of sales have come from two products, Pentalong and Obsidan.

Isis products will be distributed in western Germany in the near future. Its products are mainly cardiovasculars, as are those of Schwarz Pharma, and this has led the board to the decision to manage Isis as a distinctive eastern Germany company, even providing competition for the parent firm. Isis-Chemie, meantime, hopes that the trends in the new Commonwealth of Independent States (the former USSR) will help boost business. And Schwarz is forecasting strong sales in the years ahead, with 1992 group sales expected to reach 810-820 million marks.