TURKISH MANUFACTURERS CLAIMS GENERICS SAVINGS

The Turkish government claims to have made savings of US$417mn from the use of generics in 2004. This total is expected to rise this year as state-owned funds reimburse more generics, according to local reports.

Last year, Turkey's generics sales were roughly US$2.1bn, according to manufacturers, who claim that spending would have been US$2.52bn if branded drugs had been used instead.

Turkey's generics sales are known to have more than doubled since 1995, mainly due to favourable government policy. The Turkish health service is obliged by the government's pricing policy to purchase drugs at the lowest possible price, which has resulted in a large market for cheap generic products, either locally produced or imported from semi-regulated markets. Nevertheless, a number of leading global generics makers have scaled up their local presence in recent years.