In 2004 the value of the digestive remedies sector in Poland amounted to PLN 523m, noting a 7% increase in comparison to the previous year. Within the segment, the indigestion and heartburn remedies sub-segment was the largest and developed most dynamically, accounting for nearly a half of the digestive remedies sector. This was also due to switches of some H2 blockers from Rx to OTC in recent years. One such example, which additionally drove the indigestion and heartburn remedies sub-sector, was switching ranitidine 150mg from prescription to non-prescription status in 2003. The switches also drove the overall digestive OTC medicines growth in 2003 year-on-year of over 8%, while the segment’s increase in 2002 year-on-year amounted to a weak 2%. Among digestive remedies, a relatively high share of 20% was accounted for by herbal products in 2004, which is higher than in other OTC segments. The percentage of herbal products is the highest among laxatives, especially in tea format, whose popularity has grown substantially over the past few years. Also herbal remedies for indigestion and heartburn have been lately introduced to the market, which are [...] Publication date: March 2005 Click here to download the full article

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Source: The OTC pharmaceuticals market in Poland 2004-2006