The main result of 2016 in the pharmaceutical market was the result that the pharmaceutical market showed in the post-crisis conditions (GDP stagnation, decrease in real disposable incomes of the population, decrease in retail trade turnover, etc.).
In 2016, the volume of the Russian pharmaceutical market reached 1,344 billion rubles, which is 7% higher than the previous year. In 2016, the volume of drug sales in physical terms remained at the level of 2015 and amounted to 5.1 billion packages. Stabilization of consumption in packages can be considered as a critical trend - in the last three years the pharmaceutical market has only declined in this indicator.
The main contribution to market growth was made by the commercial segment of drugs. The dynamics of the retail market took a positive trend in packages, and growth in rubles was mainly due to OTC drugs. An important trend of the modern market is the transition to generics, the share of which grows on the background of a decrease in the share of original drugs in value and in physical terms.
Another trend of 2016 is the higher dynamics of sales of domestic drugs. The share of Russian drugs in the market by the end of 2016 was 29% in money and 61% in packages. It should be noted that the share of imported drugs is declining, while domestic drugs increase their share in the market. The processes of import substitution became more effective in the state segment. This was facilitated by the adoption of the Decree on the restriction of public procurement of imported drugs ("Two is a company, three is none"). But the change in the ratio of domestic and imported drugs is still slow. Thus, the top places in the manufacturer's ranking belong to the foreign companies: Sanofi, Novartis, Bayer.
For the distribution and pharmacy chain, the main trend of 2016 was the growing concentration.
The segment of Russian pharmaceutical distribution in the last few years has changed a lot. Over the past two years, 3 large companies of the TOP-20 ceased to exist. The largest Russian distributors occupied the free spaces, thus the share of TOP-3 companies increased from 45% to 56%. At the same time, the competition among the top three leaders increased. In 2016, distributor “Protek” returned to the first position with 21.5%. Distributor "Katren" occupied the second line with a share of 21.2%. Distributor "Pulse" closes the TOP-3 of 2016, in recent years, it has grown by an average of 40%.
Consolidation of pharmacy chains has become a key trend in 2016. Moreover, consolidation is achieved not only through the merger and absorption of some pharmacy chains by others, but also by uniting companies in various alliances and associations. As a result, such structures act as a single organization when working with the manufacturer. The Association of Independent Pharmacies "ASNA" achieved the best results in uniting pharmacies and pharmacy chains with 7.8% of the market and representing 4,215 sales points. Among the "traditional" networks, the pharmacy chain "36.6" has the largest share (4.7%).
Changes in the pharmaceutical market not only affected the composition and performance of the distribution chain, but also the legal field. Thus, for example, a single market of drugs and medical devices, which will be freely available in the territories of the EEU member-states has been launched. In 2016 the institute of GMP-inspectors was launched in full force. Moreover, inspections were carried out not only at domestic, but also at the foreign manufacturing sites. The regulatory framework for the introduction of an automatic system for monitoring the movement of medicinal products ("marking") has been developed. In 2016, the issue of legalizing the distance trade of the DP was actively discussed.
Of course, this is only a small part of the "projects" that will impact the future Russian pharmaceutical market. In the short term, the financial and economic situation in the country will remain the main factor affecting the pharmaceutical market. In 2017, the growth of the market as a whole will be about 9% in rubles.