Stada will continue to develop emerging markets as domestic growth drops

German generic and branded drugmaker Stada Arzneimittel’s (SAZ: GR) executive board chairman, Hartmut Retzlaff, speaking at the firm’s annual general meeting, elaborated on the challenges the group was confronted with in the past financial year and the first quarter of 2014, and highlighted the progress made within this period.

He highlighted the further internationalization in the context of the active acquisitions policy as well as the expansion of the attractive-margin branded products segment.

But the domestic market had not fared well for generics sales, he said, citing a “disastrous health care policy framework conditions for prescription products.” This has led to a decrease of 5% in sales in the German market in the last year to 420.2 million euros ($573.4 million). However, the group remains the third biggest supplier of generics in Germany with a 13.9% market share. He added that the company’s branded products have fared better with a share of 40% in Germany in the first quarter of the year.