The collection of Hungarian pharmacies endured to fall closing 12 months, however the true drawback is the impossibility of promoting medications on-line. This is why Hungarian pharmacies might quickly be competing with skilled overseas webshops. In the intervening time, the business is looking forward to a tightening of the promoting of meals dietary supplements, in order that sure merchandise can handiest be bought in pharmacies.
Last 12 months, the yearly turnover of pharmacies exceeded HUF 1,000 billion (1 EUR = 385 HUF), experiences Világgazdaság. This approach an build up of eleven.6% in comparison to 2022, however aside from high-value merchandise price HUF 28 billion reclassified from clinic gross sales, the exchange was once handiest round 9 %, the Alliance of Network Pharmacies (HGYSZ) stated at a press convention.
As it was once emphasised:
whilst new pharmacies had been established, the decline within the collection of pharmacies endured.
In a number of municipalities the place a public pharmacy was once working, a department pharmacy took its position. In addition, nearly all of new pharmacies opened in places the place there was once already an current pharmacy, thus they didn’t materially reinforce pharmacy get entry to. Today, round 700,000 other people reside in a agreement the place there’s no direct get entry to to medications.
Fact
In Hungary, pharmacies are healthcare establishments that may take one in all 4 paperwork.
- Public pharmacy: along with shelling out medications approved for advertising, non-public pharmacy actions also are performed right here.
- Branch pharmacy: operates as a department of a public pharmacy and its scope of distribution is in part restricted underneath the related regulation. It might also perform in a municipality the place there’s no public pharmacy.
- Institutional pharmacy: a part of a clinic and provides medications to sufferers handled within the clinic wards.
- Dispensary: situated in municipalities the place there’s no public or department pharmacy. It might perform all the way through the hole hours of the overall practitioner and the overall pediatrician, and retail outlets sure medications and dietary arrangements ordered via the physician.
During the clicking tournament, it was once additionally identified that there was a slight build up once more within the proportion of OTC (over the counter) merchandise, however sponsored merchandise proceed to account for the majority of gross sales. The collection of packing containers of OTC merchandise has fallen as call for has shifted against higher, less expensive pack sizes.
Pharmacies were making a continuing margin on gross sales of sponsored medications for ten years. In the 2023 price range, HUF 472 billion was once allotted for subsidies.
This 12 months’s price range contains HUF 500 billion, however that is anticipated to upward thrust.
In this context, it will be significant for pharmacies to unravel the issue of pricing scientific gadgets with unfavorable margins. There are merchandise akin to grownup diapers which are loss-making for pharmacies.

Photo by the use of Pixabay
Several adjustments are anticipated this 12 months within the sector. Among others, a legislative modification closing 12 months tightened up the promoting of nutritional dietary supplements, which can be a sure building from a affected person protection, skilled, and operational standpoint.
Furthermore, the web distribution of medications has been a strictly regulated task from 2022, with maximum pharmacies forsaking it or proceeding it with in-person pick-up. Since only some pharmacies perform house supply with skilled body of workers,
overseas webshops may just take a big proportion of on-line gross sales clear of Hungarian pharmacies within the close to long term.
Via Világgazdaság; Featured symbol by the use of Facebook/Belvárosi Gyógyszertár
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