Ukraine - How will the pharmaceutical market perform over the next few years?

The market is expected to grow despite the economic situation.

Ukraine is the poorest pharmaceutical market in the region in per capita terms, but growth is expected to be strong over the next few years. Whilst Ukraine was hit hard by the economic crisis, the economy is expected to recover in 2010 and increase by an average 3.6% per annum over the next five years. Ukraine’s ability to deal with the economic crisis has been hindered by ongoing political infighting. However, in March 2010, Yulia Tymoshenko's coalition officially collapsed, as it failed to prove it had a majority. Whilst essential work on stabilising the country’s economic situation may be delayed by early parliamentary elections, Mrs Tymoshenko’s exit from the government is expected to help ease political turbulence.

The pharmaceutical market is also driven by strong import growth; imports rose by a CAGR of 34.0% over 2004-2008. Import growth is expected to remain strong due to a lack of locally manufactured innovative products. The pharmaceutical market could also grow more rapidly if the government manages to implement an effective health insurance system, which has been under discussion for several years.

Further reading - An in-depth analysis of the Ukranian pharmaceutical market is available from Espicom: The Pharmaceutical Market: Ukraine (published April 2010)