Czech Republic

Prague: Orloj by Jorge González with CC

With a 2012 mar­ket value of US $4.2 bil­lion—and expected to grow 2% per year – the Czech Repub­lic’s pharmaceutical mar­ket is one of the most attrac­tive mar­kets in Cen­tral and East­ern Europe.

The country’s high-quality infra­struc­ture, the avail­abil­ity of cost-effective skilled labour and reg­u­la­tions in sync with the EU are the pri­mary expla­na­tions for the Czech phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal industry’s growth. There are around 8,200 reg­istered phar­ma­cies in the Czech Repub­lic, with the two most well-known retail chains being Dr Max and Lloyd’s.

Generic med­i­cines make up more than 50% of the total mar­ket share, while OTCs com­prise 23% (though there was an increase to 24% in 2011). This is con­sid­ered one of the biggest growth num­bers in Europe. Pro­jec­tions for growth in the eco­nomic, demo­graphic, health expen­di­ture and phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal mar­ket indi­ca­tors are very pos­i­tive for the Czech Repub­lic, mak­ing it a very promis­ing and sta­ble Emerg­ing Mar­ket.