Portugal's pharma market expected to grow at compound annual rate of 2.8%

Business Monitor International calculates that pharmaceutical sales in Portugal reached 3.61 billion euros ($5.31 billion) in 2008. It calculates that the sales of prescription and over-the-counter medicines will see a constant annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.79% in local currency terms. It notes that, as a result of the weakening euro, drug market expenditure in US dollar terms will experience a decline in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012, before reaching a value of $5.11 billion by 2013, equating to a CAGR of -0.77%.

In BMI's fourth-quarter 2009 Business Environment Ratings table for Western Europe, Portugal scores 59.7, down from its third-quarter score of 62.6. In regional terms, Portugal is rated eighth of the nine countries in the Western Europe matrix, above Italy and below Belgium. In global terms, Portugal is positioned in 15th place (down one compared to the previous quarter), above the Czech Republic and the United Arab Emirates and below Belgium and the Netherlands, out of the 71 markets surveyed by BMI.

Consumption of anxiolytics, soporifics, sedatives and antidepressants increased 32% between 2002 and 2008

In August this year, Portugal's National Health Plan said that the consumption of sedatives and antidepressants in the country is on the rise. Consumption of anxiolytics, soporifics, sedatives and antidepressants increased by 32% between 2002 and 2008. In Portugal in 2002, 115.6 doses of sedatives and antidepressants were consumed per 1,000 inhabitants per day and, by 200, this figure had increased to 152.1 doses per 1,000 inhabitants per day. Portugal is therefore way above the European average for consumption of this type of medicine, which stands at 41.3 doses per 1,000 people per day. The National Health Plan aims to reduce the consumption of sedative and antidepressant medicines to 92.5 doses per 1,000 inhabitants per day by 2010.