New Healthcare market report from Business Monitor International: "Slovakia Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare Report Q3 2012"

Boston, MA -- (SBWire) -- 08/27/2012 --BMI View: Despite the formation of new government in Slovakia, our contractionary outlook for the pharmaceutical market has been maintained as key drug policy reforms passed by the legislature in September 2011 prior to the downfall of the previous government will still be in effect. Following the appointment of Zuzana Zvolenska as the new minister of health in April, there has been no sign she will significantly alter from this course, which is bad news for drugmakers.

Headline Expenditure Projections

- Pharmaceuticals: EUR1.72bn (US$2.45bn) in 2011 to EUR1.65bn (US$2.28bn) in 2012; -3.9% in local currency terms and -7.3% in US dollar terms. Forecast broadly unchanged since Q212.
- Healthcare: EUR5.97bn (US$8.53bn) in 2011 to EUR6.11bn (US$8.43bn) in 2012; +2.4% in local currency terms and -1.2% in US dollar terms. Historic data updated; forecast slightly down from Q212.
- Medical devices: EUR384mn (US$550mn) in 2011 to EUR396mn (US$546) in 2012; +2.9% in local currency terms and -0.7% in US dollar terms. The 2011 market data has been revised; forecast slightly down from Q212.

View Full Report Details and Table of Contents

Risk/Reward Rating: Slovakia's Pharmaceutical Risk/Reward Rating (RRR) score is stable in our latest analysis, with the challenges faced in the drug market in 2012 already well factored into our assessment. Slovakia's table position has improved in Q312, moving up to eighth from 10th out of the 20 markets we assess in the region.

Key Trends And Developments

- We have maintained a contractionary outlook for Slovakia's 2012 pharmaceutical market since June 2011, when drug policy reforms emerged and were gathering sufficient political momentum to pass through the legislature. This view played out with the passage of key contractionary drug laws on medicines and healthcare assistance in mid-September, prior to the fall of Iveta Radicova's government in early October. The legislation that has been in action since December 1 2011 is expected to result in price reductions for medicines to the second-lowest level in the EU, as well as allowing the prescription of generic equivalents by doctors and introducing customer loyalty programmes. Savings as a result of this legislation are expected to reach EUR100mn, which will be redirected into other parts of public healthcare provision.
- Prime Minister Robert Fico wants to ban private health insurance firms from retaining or distributing profits. He has Zvolenska to find a way to introduce the ban without breaching the constitution. An attempt to impose the ban was first identified as unconstitutional during the first Fico government in 2007. A ban is expected to be supported by opposition parties as they made similar proposals during the last election campaign.

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