A report drafted at the European Parliament’s request examining the effects of national regulations on European patients’ access to medicines reveals Romania ranking at the bottom of a EU list on investments in research and development of new medicines, with an average of EUR 5/capita, according to a release by the Romanian Association of International Medicine Manufacturers (ARPIM).
According to the source quoted, the top three rankers are Denmark on EUR 190 per capita, Belgium, EUR 170 and Sweden, EUR 80 per capita. At the opposite end, Romania, EUR 5, Portugal, EUR 15 per capita, and Greece, EUR 17 per capita. The source also shows that, unlike other European states, in Romania, generic medicines, which contain the same active ingredients as the original formulas, have better market penetration, unlike other European states. The market share in 2010 of generic medicines in Romania was 64 per cent in volume and 24.2 per cent value wise, while that of original medicines was of 36 per cent and 74 per cent respectively. They place Romania above the European average of 22.4 per cent in terms of the value of the generic medicines consumed. Compared to other Central and Eastern European countries, in Romania there are marketed generic medicines sold under a similar commercial brand, yet more expensive than the generic medicines sold under the name of the chemical molecule they belong to.
