Lithuania's Drug Sector Policy Criticised

A new survey carried out by pharmaceutical companies in Lithuania claims that the country's government is failing to support the sector. The report estimates that the country's drug imports are 13 times the size of its exports, despite the fact that the Baltic state is home to a number of fledgling drug exporters.

However, despite the existence of potential regional-scale exporters such as Valentis and Sanitas, the market share of local manufacturers is smaller than in other parts of Eastern Europe. In countries such as Poland, Croatia and Slovenia, the domestic sector's market share is often as high as 70% in many leading therapeutic classes.

However, whether criticism of the Lithuanian government's policy is accurate remains to be seen. There has been little choice but to adopt European Union (EU) manufacturing regulations, at substantial cost to the industry. Some observers now also doubt that the scale of local production is substantial enough to produce the desired increase in regional pharmaceutical exports.