Turkey's Pharma Industry In Crisis

Press reports in the Turkish capital Ankara have recorded the nation's pharmaceutical employers' union as saying that Turkey's pharmaceutical industry has been making losses for the past three years. According to the EBA Newsletter, the union's chairman, Kaya Turgut, is reported as saying that the industry faced losses of 4.4% in 1994, 7.9% in 1995 and 9.9% in the past five months of this year.

Mr Turgut blamed the Ministry of Health for the losses, claiming that many local drug producers will be forced to close down and consign their businesses to foreign investors.

At a press conference, Mr Turgut suggested that the proportion of total drugs supplied to the Turkish market by local producers is falling, and the sector is receiving little government support. One economics expert at the press meeting described the state of the Turkish drugs manufacturing sector as "highly critical," and warned that it could be close to collapse.