Abstract
Moldova’s pharmaceutical market was valued at only US$242mn in 2008,
making the country of minimal
attractiveness to all but the most
pan-European multinational pharmaceutical companies. Despite rapid
expansion over the past three years, per capita spending remains low, while
medicine likely to represent
an unsustainable proportion of the economy
over the longer term. Over the next five years, BMI forecasts
a compound
annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.3% for pharmaceuticals.
Despite strong
growth, low market value is just one of the factors limiting attractiveness
for
multinationals. In BMI’s Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare Business
Environment Rankings for Central and
Eastern Europe (CEE) in Q309 Moldova
places a lowly 17th. Other reasons for the low ranking include
protectionism for the local industry, relatively weak intellectual property
(IP) enforcement and limited
reimbursement options. Moldovan real GDP is
forecast to contract by 3.8% in 2009 as the deterioration of
the external
economic climate weighs on export growth and consumer sentiment.
Nevertheless, analysis by the state medicines agency shows that the use of
more expensive medicines is
becoming more common. In 2008, 24.4% of
medicines were classed ‘expensive’, as opposed to just
19.9%
in 2004. The government has increased the health insurance budget by 30% in
2009 and has
pledged to provide free insurance to low-income families.
This should help the market to develop as it
will increase access to both
medicines and healthcare.
Moldova has claimed to make significant progress
in tackling counterfeit pharmaceuticals over the past
five years.
Automated accounting systems for drug distribution – which had been
implemented by 74% of
pharmaceutical enterprises by the end of 2008
– led to a reported reduction in market penetration of fake
medicines from 10% in 2004 to less than 1% in 2008.
Moldova’s
disease burden is fairly typical for a developing country within CEE. While
noncommunicable
diseases represent the major and growing proportion of the
burden, the percentage of
disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) lost to
communicable diseases was calculated at 81,762 in 2008, or
10.7% of the
DALYs lost to all diseases and injuries. One of major health issues facing
Moldovans is
excessive alcohol intake and its associated risk factors.
Among all 12 Commonwealth of Independent
States (CIS) members, Moldova has
the highest burden from alcohol use disorders, with 139 DALYs lost
per
10,000 people.
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