The Value of the Pharmaceutical Market in the Netherlands Was Estimated at $6.7 Billion in 2013, Says a New Study on ASDReports

Wednesday 10 September 2014, Amsterdam

Although the Netherlands’ increasing elderly population and its associated disease burden will continue to drive its pharmaceutical market in the future, price cuts, a reimbursement policy aimed at reducing healthcare expenditure, and the increased prescription of generics will restrict the growth of the market.

The value of the pharmaceutical market in the Netherlands was estimated at $6.7 billion in 2013. Specific therapeutic segments, such as cardiovascular, anticancer and gastrointestinal drugs, dominate the market. In order to reduce the healthcare deficit, the government is focusing on the use of generics as a cost-containment tool. The increasingly elderly population and the corresponding increase in the incidence of chronic diseases will help to boost the growth in the pharmaceutical market. It is expected to grow at a steady Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 0.9% from $6.7 billion in 2014 to $7.2 billion in 2020.

The 2008–2012 period saw an increase in expenditure on expensive medicines (medicines priced at more than €500 ($670.4)), and in 2011, the revenue generated from their sale increased by €107m ($143.4m) to €1.11 billion ($1.49 billion) (SFK, 2012). However, expenditure on expensive medicines within pharmaceutical care declined in 2012 due to the transfer of the financing of drugs such as Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF)-alfa inhibitors and associated medicines to the reimbursement list of medicines, as lay out by that year’s hospital budget and based on the cost of the drugs alone. From 2013, other drugs such as oncology drugs and growth hormones may also be transferred to the hospitals’ budget from community pharmacies.

The Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (MoHWS) sets the prices for medicines twice a year (in April and October). The Drug Price Act (Wet Geneesmiddelenprijzen, WGP) has played an important role in pricing since its introduction in 1996. Continual price cuts have seen drug prices decline by an average of 3–4% per year, and from 1996 to 2012, prices declined by 50% (SFK, 2012). The price regulations aimed at cost-containment have had a negative impact on the pharmaceutical market.

Since 2003, health insurance providers have adopted an extensive preference policy that restricts the claims of insured patients to one medicine per active ingredient. From June 2008, this policy has resulted in a decline in the prices of generic medicines. The introduction of preference policies by health insurers has played a significant role in the increase in the share of prescriptions dispensed as generic medicines. The share of prescriptions dispensed as generic drugs increased from 56.2% in 2008 to 63.3% in 2012 (SFK, 2010; SFK, 2012). This will mitigate the growth of the pharmaceutical market. 



In 2013, the medical device market in the Netherlands was valued at $3.2 billion, having grown at a CAGR of 4.4% from $2.6 billion in 2008. In 2013, the major segments were cardiovascular devices (13.1%), ophthalmic devices (12.1%), In Vitro Diagnostics (IVD) (11.9%), orthopedic devices (11.3%), and hospital supplies (6.0%). The market is driven by factors such as increasing awareness regarding the early detection and diagnosis of disease, advancements in medical technology, and an increase in the elderly population.