Spanish pharma market will continue falling, at least until 2017

The Spanish pharmaceutical market has evolved in a parallel way to the economic crisis. Drug sales started to decline in 2008, but it was not until 2011 when we saw the first growth rate below zero, says Francisco Rosa, a journalist with Spanish newspaper El Global writing for The Pharma Letter.

And this negative trend, which resulted in a reduction in turnover of more than 8% in 2012, will continue, at least, until 2017 and will be exacerbated by falling sales in the hospital channel, as revealed by IMS Health Spain’s latest data, he noted.

Within the overall market downturn (down 8.4%) it is important to see the sharp decline of the retail market, which has dropped to about 9.0 billion euros ($11.64 billion) in 2012. Thus, sales in the pharmacy channel have gone from 63.5% of the total market in 2011 to 60.7% in 2012, being in a marked decline since 2009.