NEWSROOM

Affected by changes in exchange rates and global inflation, the pharmaceutical industry has undergone a major change in recent years. The new report, prepared on the basis of the publicly available reports of the Ministry of Health, Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency, revealed the details of the sales volume and price changes in the pharmaceutical market in the last 15 years. According to the report, drug expenditures directly made by the citizens have increased by 80% in the last 15 years.

*** This release is originally published in Turkish.

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ISTANBUL (TR) - The latest update on the changes experienced over the years in the pharmaceutical market, which is affected by exchange rate-related price changes and global inflation due to imported drugs and imported inputs of domestic drugs, was published in July. The Decision on Amending the Pricing of Medicinal Products for Human Use published in the Official Gazette dated 17 January 2009 was updated with the regulation that entered into force at the beginning of July. ECONiX Research, which conducts health-focused research, examined the publicly available drug market observation reports of the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency (TİTCK) in order to evaluate the change in the sector from a broader perspective between the years 2007-2021.

The most striking result of the research, which was prepared by ECONiX by examining the reports of about 15 years, was the 80% increase in the direct sales volume of drugs in the past 15 years. In other words, drug expenditures directly made by the citizens increased by 80% in 15 years. Thus, the people had to pay 1 out of every 4 drugs out of their pockets. In addition, it was determined that the increase in the sales volume of drugs in 15 years was 1.5 times and the volume in 2021 reached 2.4 billion boxes.

There was a 3-fold increase in the price of medicine per box.

The study, which was created by examining the public market reports published by TITCK, a regulatory, supervisory and guiding institution for pharmaceuticals, medical devices, traditional herbal, supportive and advanced treatment medicinal products and cosmetics, also showed that the price per box of drugs increased 3 times between 2007-2021. With this increase, while the average price of a box of drugs reached 26.72 TL, it was determined that the sales value of the drugs increased by 5 times. Looking at the year 2021 in general, it was seen that the total sales value of drugs reached 64.85 billion TL. Although there was a decrease in the sales value of drugs between 2013 and 2014, it was observed that there was an increase in the periods covered by the report and this increase accelerated as of 2017. On the other hand, the decrease in the average price per box of drugs between 2010 and 2012, when the average annual euro exchange rate and sales value decreased, revealed the relationship between drug prices and exchange rate changes.

Sales value of domestically produced biotechnological drugs increased 14 times

The increase in the sales value of biotechnological drugs obtained as a result of critical processes in production processes, produced from living cells, not fully characterized and used in methods such as gene therapy, was calculated as 14 times. Sales volume of biotechnological drugs, which have been sold 4 times more in the past 15 years, reached 38.22 million boxes in 2021. The average price per box of biotechnological drugs increased 3 times and exceeded the 300 TL band in 2021. With the expiration of the patents of biotechnological drugs, the sales value of biosimilar drugs produced with their unique production technologies increased to 11.53 billion TL in 2021. The report prepared by ECONiX Research, which operates with offices in Estonia, Tunisia and Turkey, also included the manufacturing-import rates of generic and biotechnological drugs. In this context, it was determined that the ratio of imported drugs compared to manufactured drugs decreased by 8% in the said period in terms of box sales volume.