New replacing old. Poland is the only country in eastern Europe with a GNP higher than before the wall came down.

General manager Bent M Johnson sees good prospects for further growth

Measured in nominal figures, Poland is growth market Number One in Eastern Europe. Novo Nordisk's Health Care affiliate is doing very nicely - in the last two years, turnover has doubled. In the same period, sales of insulin in 3 ml Penfill® have risen by nearly 500% and the market share in Diabetes Care has grown from around 20% to approximately 30%. Sales of Women's Health Care and growth hormone products in Poland are also growing. The explanation for this breakthrough in Poland is three-fold: greater awareness by patients, doctors and the authorities of the value of modern pharmaceuticals; stable economic policy and growth; and the reorganisation of the Polish affiliate to western lines, with decentralised responsibility of the approximately 50 staff.
"In the last few years, we have seen a growing awareness among doctors and patients of the value of quality drugs and treatment. This awareness has paved the way for increased public subsidies for medicinal products. Which means more and more patients have access to our high quality products," says Bent M Johnsen, general manager for Novo Nordisk Health Care in Poland.
Another crucial factor has been a change in the perception of diabetes.
"It used to be thought of as something to keep quiet about for fear of losing your job or something. Nowadays it is becoming accepted more and more as something you can live perfectly normally with and do just as good a job at work. That is an attitude that has been supported by our training programmes for doctors, nurses and patients - and our modern pen systems," says Johnsen.
"From a clinical perspective, the increasing use of human insulin in combination with our user-friendly injection systems has also helped reduce the risk of diabetes-related long-term complications, which is an important pharmacoeconomic aspect," says Johnsen.

Insulin only in pens
It is Novo Nordisk's objective to supply patients with quality that is second to none. Hence our reason for selling insulin primarily in pens - NovoPen® , Penfill® and the disposable pen Novo-Let ® , which was launched in April. It is also a goal to be selling only human insulin by the end of 1997. As about half of all Poles with diabetes, who require insulin treatment still use animal insulin, there is a potential for further growth in sales of Novo Nordisk products. Especially when you take into account the fact that very few young, newly diagnosed people with diabetes use animal insulin.
Novo Nordisk has an alliance with the local insulin producer Polfa Tarcomin, which has about half the Polish insulin market, selling mainly animal insulin and human insulin in vials on licence from Novo Nordisk. One of Novo Nordisk's most important contributions to the alliance has been the transference of technology to Polfa Tarcomin, which used to have the monopoly of the Polish insulin market and is now undergoing privatisation.
The pattern of increased turnover and awareness is repeated in the field of HRT (hormone replacement therapy). Greater understanding as to what can be done to prevent osteoporosis and menopausal symptoms has helped triple turnover in the last two years, and growth has by no means flattened out. In Poland, only one woman in 20 over the age of 45 uses HRT products - in Denmark the ratio is one in three.
The growth hormone market is a tender market. Basically that means the state must have certain stocks of growth hormone. Each producer then negotiates individually, just like a tender bid. With a market share of over 50%, Novo Nordisk is doing fine in the growth hormone market.

Potential for growth
According to the IMF 'World Economic Outlook' report, Poland is the only country in Eastern Europe with a GNP higher than before the Wall came down. Since the introduction a few years ago of a crawling exchange rate peg (the Zloty is not allowed to move more than 10% vis-ą-vis USD and DM) the government has managed to reduce inflation year after year. So prospects for a rise in buying power are good.
According to the report 'Eastern Europe - opportunities for the pharmaceutical industry' compiled by the IMS Pharma Strategy Group in London, sales of pharmaceutical products in Eastern Europe will double in the period between now and 2000. And Poland's market share in Eastern Europe is predicted to rise from 33% to 43%.

Excellent investment climate
There is to be an election in Poland in the autumn. There is a general consensus among Danish diplomats in Poland that no matter what political coalition may be put into power, the investment climate will not change much. Poland's economic policy has been stable recently, most probably because it has been masterminded by technocrats and not marred by party ideology.