Despite its diminutive size, the Netherlands has historically carried a large weight in the world because of certain cultural endowments: small but united, entrepreneurial, innovative, and externally oriented. During the Dutch Golden Age, the “low country” monopolized international trade and commerce giving rise to tulip manias, artistic masters, and the…

  The ’90s was an enthusiastic time. With the fall of communism in 1989 and the emergence of the free economy, the international pharmaceutical industry arrived in the Czech Republic to find a highly receptive market. Modern therapies found alacritous patients. Uninitiated Czech doctors welcomed pharmaceutical representatives into their offices…

Hungary With approximately $90 billion flowing into the country (according to the Hungarian Investment and Trade Agency) since it abolished its centrally planned economy and transformed into an open, pro-business economy in 1989, Hungary has been a leading destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Together…

As the global economic roller coaster continues to unfold, governments the world over have desperately been scrambling to find the right policies that will effectively clamp on the brakes to end this unnerving joyride we have witnessed over the last few months, if not years. The frontline of this battle…

Increasing integration with the world economy and accession to the European Union (EU) in 2007 have been key pillars in taking the growth potential of Romania’s pharmaceutical market to greater heights. Valued at $3.3 billion, Romania was recently labelled an IMS Tier 3 category of ‘Fast Followers’ among the world’s…

Serbia Serbia has had an undoubtedly troubled history since the breakup of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. A costly war and ensuing UN sanctions have left the country’s economy a few years behind those of its regional counterparts. The subsequent global financial crisis in the late 2000s resulted in another hit…

Poland   Stretching across the heart of continental Europe, Poland is a massive bridge that links east and west, old and new, and which epitomizes a changing continent. At one time an enigmatic behemoth cast behind an iron curtain, Poland’s accession to the European Union in 2004 has injected its economy…

Cyprus Standing at the crossroads of three continents, Cyprus embodies the beauty and diversity of Mediterranean culture. Being tucked beneath Turkey and hugging the western shores of the Middle East gives a distinct eastern feel to the island nation. Yet the country leans strongly west as a full-fledged member of the…

Malta   Alan Camilleri, chairman of Malta Enterprise—the government agency responsible for facilitating and stimulating the development of Malta—recalls the words of a foreign investor, who had taken stake in Maltese business. The investor imagined what he would say to other potential promoters, if asked whether they should put their finances…

generics “The ball is in the hands of the government,” according to Giorgio Foresti, general manager of Ratiopharm. “Once aware of the opportunities created by generics, politicians will have to make hard decisions.” Until now, generics prescriptions were limited by strong links between innovators and doctors, and price alignment trends reducing…

The pharmaceutical industry arose from science – and so did Italy’s knowledge based economy. Building on a reputation for innovation carved in the 15th century, when Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Galileo and other icons of the Italian Renaissance helped shape the modern world, the country’s life science industry is now…

Greece Greece’s contributions to health are world-renowned, whether physical through its Mediterranean diet and climate, or mental as the genesis of western philosophy and mathematics. Less well-known, however, are its modern-day activities in the pharmaceutical industry, where the blossoming market is distinctive for its diversity despite a small size of 11…