Turkey's pharma market is ripe for profit

 08-Oct-14, PMLiVE

But will the highly efficient market be hindered by the government price referencing system?

Turkey is a changing and dynamic economy and GDP per capita has more than tripled in the last 10 years. The country's healthcare economy is changing tremendously, thanks to an ageing population and near-universal social security coverage.

Image: PMGroup

With rising economic prosperity and the ageing population, the government has been systematically increasing healthcare infrastructure. However, Turkey is entering a new phase of growth thanks to government targets of reducing the healthcare trade deficit by encouraging local industry and increasing the proportion of drugs produced domestically. Formation of collaborations and partnerships will be key to Turkey's R&D sector, and international companies are showing an increased interest to break into the Turkish market through partnerships.

A considerable challenge within the Turkish pharmaceutical industry is the government's price referencing system and fixed euro-lira conversion rates. The price referencing has been deemed a highly negative aspect of the industry.

Although it is clear that considerable difficulties are present for companies looking to supply drugs domestically within Turkey, this has had the knock-on effect of improving overall competitiveness. What we witness in the next few years should firmly establish Turkey as the definitive player and supplier of drugs across the MENA and CIS regions.

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