Industry revenue of »dispensing chemist in specialised stores« in Croatia 2011-2023

Revenues of dispensing chemist in specialised stores in Croatia have witnessed a decline from 954 million U.S. dollars in 2011 to 875 million U.S. dollars in 2019. Amongst key reasons include the decline in domestic production, due to the falling investments in research and development and the subsequent drug shortages. As of 2018, only 14 percent of medicines approved by the European Medicines Agency were available to patients, which is amongst the least in Europe. Majority of the medicines are imported from countries such as China and India. The total number of pharmacies in the country amounted to 1,114 as of 2015, majority of which are privatized. Pliva and Belupo are amongst the largest pharmaceutical companies.

Imports impacted amid Covid-19 outbreak

The outbreak of the corona virus pandemic has caused shortages of two major drugs in the country, one containing paracetamol and the other containing lopinavir for the treatment of HIV, as per a report from the Croatian Agency for Medicinal Products and Medical Devices, owing to the current supply chain restrictions. The substances used for these medicines are usually imported from China and India.