Global recession impacting Portugal's pharmaceuticals market growth

Portugal's pharmaceutical market was worth 3.58 billion euros ($5.05 billion) in 2009, and drug market expenditure is likely to remain at a similar level in 2010, says a new report added to the offerings of Research and Markets. Portugal's pharmaceutical market has experienced a considerable slowdown in growth in recent years, partly because of the markets maturity and its demographic structure, but also because of downward pressure on Portugal's economy caused by the global recession.

Portugal, like many European countries, has been forced to undertake austerity measures in order to calm markets, attract investment, and appease the European Union. Few aspects of Portugal's economy have escaped these changes, and pharmaceuticals are no exception to this rule. From July 1, 2010, standard VAT rates were increased from 20% to 21% and the reduced rate applied to drugs was also raised, from 5% to 6%. The pharmaceutical industry has seen its margins squeezed with the introduction of a new range of price cuts for generic drugs the degree to which prices are lowered depends upon the reference price for each therapeutic category during the third quarter of this year.

Govt to call for further reductions in generic drug prices