The Pharmaceutical Market: Denmark

The Pharmaceutical Market: Denmark

OVERVIEW OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL MARKET IN DENMARK The macroenvironment for the Danish pharmaceutical industry is improving. The centre-left coalition, of the Social Democratic Party, the Socialist People's Party and the Social Liberal Party, took office in October 2011. Denmark suffered a deep recession and economic recovery is stalling with negative GDP growth projected for 2012. Denmark has an ageing population, and the Economist Intelligence Unit projects that the population aged 65 and over will constitute more than one-fifth of the total population by 2016. As a result, healthcare is increasingly focused on preventative care and there will be a continuing demand for new therapies so that patients can be treated more effectively. The increasing pharmaceutical expenditure in Denmark has led to price freezes and caps in recent years. A price ceiling, which has fixed pharmaceutical prices at the level they were five years ago, was extended to remain in place until the end of 2011. This extension is a sign of the government’s determination to keep the price of pharmaceuticals down, and so this form of price restriction is likely to continue beyond 2011. However, despite the positive results from cost-containment measures, efforts to reduce the cost of pharmaceuticals have proved unsuccessful. The savings made have been more than counterbalanced by the wider use of new and expensive pharmaceuticals, which are required to ensure the most effective treatment. This is especially true in areas such as hypertension, high cholesterol and so on, where many new therapies have become available recently. Denmark has strong domestic production, but many producers focus on the export market. Due to the presence of Novo Nordisk, Denmark is a major global supplier of insulin in retail form. In August 2011, Novo Nordisk announced it is planning to build two new office buildings in Bagsværd. Previously, in June 2011, the company announced...