On the Estonian market of medicines, the last quarter of 2021 has marked a national sales record to the amount of EUR 117 million. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2020, this was an increase by 23%, according to the Estonian State Agency of Medicines as reported by the ERR.
«The increase can be interpreted in many ways; naturally, Covid-19 vaccines play a large role here, accounting for seven percent of the increase in turnover, or EUR 8.4 million in financial terms,» Janne Sepp, a statistics specialist at the Estonian State Agency of Medicines, commented to the ERR.
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«However, in absolute terms, the increase compared with Q4 2020 stood at EUR 22 million, which means that Covid-19 vaccines accounted for only part of the increase,» the specialist noted.
Wholesalers in Estonia sold medicines to general pharmacies worth about EUR 75 million. Groups of drugs that also showed a significant rise in sales included anti-tumour and immunomodulatory, and gastrointestinal tract medicines. Because the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown restrictions were accompanied by a fall in sales and use of anti-biotics, the spread of infections rose in the second part of 2021, making the sales of antibiotics recover to pre-pandemic levels, Sepp added, as quoted by the ERR.
Estonian sales of medicines reached record EUR 117 m in three months
