Ukrainian pharmaceutical industry leads in terms of growth among all sectors of the economy – research data

This is stated in the infographic guide Pharmaceutics of Ukraine 2021, which the Top Lead company prepared in partnership with the Darnitsa Pharmaceutical Company and with the support of the Business Views analytical project, informs Censor.NET.

According to the materials of the guide, twenty largest companies in the industry were able to increase their sales over the past year; and more than half of them increased their presence in the pharmaceutical market. As of the beginning of this year, the volume of this market was estimated at $4bn. The average annual growth rate of the pharmacy segment, which was 12.6% before the start of the pandemic, slightly slowed down to 7.9%. However, compared to the other sectors of the economy, this has become almost a record figure.

According to the Executive Chairman of Darnitsa Group, Dmytro Shymkiv, pharmaceutical industry’s resistance to the global economic shocks, both in Ukraine and globally, is thanks to the high degree of implementation of innovations. Before the start of the pandemic, Ukrainian pharmaceutical companies invested a total of 1.5 billion UAH in the automation of production and digitalization of management processes, and this made it possible to significantly increase labor efficiency and avoid drug shortages during the lockdown.

The CEO of Top Lead Stanislav Shum emphasized that pharma industry occupies one of the leading positions among other industries in terms of productivity: one employee accounts for almost 1.4 million UAH of GDP. Due to this, jobs in the pharmaceutical industry remain among the highest paid jobs, and this, in turn, attracts high-quality workforce.

In such favorable conditions, the share of the made in Ukraine medicines, as evidenced by data from the infographic guide Pharmaceutics of Ukraine 2021, has grown from 28% to 37% in monetary terms over the past 10 years. Besides, although drug imports dominate in foreign trade, export volumes have also increased significantly since 2015, reaching $235 million.

In addition to positive trends specifically in the economic context, the authors of the guide also note an increase in the level of digitalization of the service component. This direction has also become more attractive for investments against the backdrop of the 2020 quarantine restrictions. In particular, we are talking about the transition to electronic document management, the gradual introduction of electronic prescriptions, and the popularization of online retail drug trade. According to experts’ forecasts, cited in the study of Darnitsa and Business Views, the share of digital commerce in this area will reach at least 15% by 2026.

The authors of the guide point out that subject to following the established course – deepening legislative integration with the EU, reforming the health care system, developing public-private partnerships – the Ukrainian pharmaceutical industry will continue to realize its potential.