Pharmexpert Released Cumulative Rating of Pharmaceutical Distributors

OREANDA-NEWS. March 23, 2012. The last year was relatively quiet for wholesalers. After the implementation of VED markup caps, which were absorbed and adjusted to by companies quickly enough, there were no significant regulatory moves with regard to pharma distributors, in contrast to retail companies, for example. Certain wholesale drug market regulation initiatives on part of government officials that took place in 2011 were, although sensationalist, but just that — initiatives. So most of the time companies were left to their own devices and busied themselves with operational management issues and strategies of further evolution.

In the meantime, a clear trend became visible in the market, specifically the segmenting of approaches to wholesale company evolution. In the foreseeable future, in all appearances a process of aggressive company consolidation and wholesale market concentration will take place with no active part played by the government. Notably, paradoxical as it may seem, those processes were, to a certain extent, catalyzed by medium-size companies that began active expansion into the Russian regions. In response to it, large companies made an asymmetrical blow by putting service quality at the top of the agenda. So far, the “great opposition” has been more or less confined to individual cases, but should the process expand, a multitude of regional players forced to bear competitive pressure from two sides at the same time may become victims to it.

Thus, wholesale companies have reached a critical line beyond which we will see far more aggressive actions both regarding mergers and, possibly, bankruptcies in the pharma market. We may well expect to observe the peak of such activities as early as 2012—2013.

ТОР10 distributors by direct DRUG supply share (including beneficiary drug coverage), 2011/2010

*Expert estimation.