Pharmaceutical market in Azerbaijan needs resuscitation

Baku/31.03.14/Turan : The market of drugs in Azerbaijan by 97% dependent on imports, while the retail price of these products is much higher than in neighboring countries. This is according to local and foreign sources.

The monitoring results of the Center for Medical Research Pharmexpert ( Russia ), conducted for the analysis of retail drug markets in the CIS countries and Georgia , in 2013, retail sales of pharmaceutical products in Azerbaijan totaled $ 731 million , exceeding by 18% in the previous year . It is noteworthy that , according to the same source , in 2011-2013, growth of the pharmaceutical market in the country was 45%.

The total amount declared at customs medicines totaled $ 243 million According to local media , the share of only one company ( LLC AvroMed) had in 2011 sales of drugs operations totaling 211.7 million manat.

Data from the State Statistics Committee of expenditure on health of the population in 2011 ( 6.8 manats per capita per month ) confirm that the population spent on these needs about 750 million or about $ 900 million According to the same official source per capita expenditure on health care in 2012 grew by 35%. We can assume that, respectively, and increased the cost of buying drugs.

According to estimates based on data Turan State Procurement Agency (SPA ), but in 2013 state budget expenditures for the purchase of medicines made ​​at least 120 million manat, this year they are projected at 130 million manat. Thus, 60% of the nominal prices of imports of drugs in 2013 accounted for the needs of public health facilities. National Oncology Center purchased in 2013 medicines totaling 20.5 million manat. However, many cancer patients complain that this free public medical institution nothing.

Comparatively recent times the volume of public procurement of drugs measured not many zeros . In 2007, for this purpose from the state budget was spent AZN 46 million (including AZN 8 million for the purchase of dressings and X- films) . Already in 2008, this figure doubled to 95 million manat, of which 86.8 million manat was spent on the purchase of medicines . Beginning in 2009 , SPA ceased to provide a summary of the procurement of specific goods.

Despite the opportunities, production of drugs in Azerbaijan is not managed well. There is only one privatized enterprise, which officially made ​​in 2013 in the amount of drugs 2.6 million ( +12.8% ). For comparison, there is an example of Georgia, where in total retail drug market to reach $ 230 million by 14% the need is met by local producers. Besides, the willingness to establish new production is expressed in a number of foreign pharmaceutical companies , based on studies of corruption in the countries of the South Caucasus and the Middle East, according to the Ministry of Health of the country.

Pharmaceutical activities in Azerbaijan are licensed by the Center for Analytical Examination of Medicines under the Health Ministry . On the first of January last year licenses for pharmacy operations belonged to 876 business entities , of which 521 were located in Baku. Under the Ministry of Health Office of Pharmacies more than 900 pharmacies operate. For the sufficiently large size of the wholesale and retail pharmaceutical companies, the market is characterized as a monopoly. The market is actually divided between several companies, where the last word belongs to AvroMed, Riyad-Pharm, Azeri Med, Certus Pharma, Farm Group and Pasha-Co. According to the Center for Innovation and Supply Ministry of Health , these other companies are distributors of 233 global manufacturers of pharmaceutical products.

According to international studies, over 75% of drug sales in the pharmacy network accounted for prescription by doctors recipes that can serve as evidence of the growing role of marketing companies in the country's hospitals. For this indicator, Azerbaijan is the leader in the post-Soviet space. In Armenia and Georgia, for example, a third drug is sold in pharmacies without a recipe. In Russia, this figure exceeds 50 % of retail sales .

On drug prices in the retail sale Azerbaijan is an outsider among the CIS countries and Georgia , where you can find cheap medicines. Only about 9 % of sales accounted for by drugs under $ 2 per pack, while 23 % of drugs cost between $ 20 to $ 200. In Georgia , for example, the figures are 14% and 10.6 %, respectively.

As the local www.bakumedinfo.com site said, a problem for consumers is access to cheap medicines - they can not just be found in Baku pharmacies. Cheap drugs are not taken by the farm depots. As the specialized site reports, Drotaverinum has been included in the list of essential drugs and is inexpensive. So, if the wholesaler takes No-spa at 2 manats and adds the coefficient set for the region - 10%, then from each package he has 20 gepiks . If he takes Drotaverinum at 50 kopecks, and the margin remains the same - 10%, it turns out that from each package he gets only 5 kopecks. Pharmacies would be glad to take cheap drugs to offer customers, but pharmaceutical companies and depots with which they work, do not deal with them because it is not profitable.

Anyone who has once traveled abroad can make sure that being healthy in Azerbaijan is quite difficult, primarily due to the fact that trade margins in the pharmacy network are too high. Therefore, along with the gray import, shuttle import of drugs is also present.

The volume of imports of medicines in 2002-2013 years ( data from the State Customs Committee):
 

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