The pharmaceutical sector consists of companies which either manufacture or import pharmaceutical and parapharmaceutical products. More than 100 pharmaceutical companies (manufacturers and importers) are estimated to operate in the Greek market. Most importers are subsidiaries of multinational groups.
The value of the domestic production of medicines has registered a fall from 2011 onwards. However, over the last two years it has remained at the same levels and in 2016 it registered a marginal rise of 0.4%.
The overall size of the assessed market (sales in wholesale prices) increased during the period 2000-2009, by an average annual growth rate of 14.1%. However, the difficult course of the Greek economy over the past eight years and the successive reductions in drug prices have resulted in a decline in market value from 2010 onwards. Particularly, in 2016 the market dropped by 6.7% compared to 2015.
Approximately 41% of the total sales of medicines (in value) regards sales to hospitals.