Friday, March 27, 2026

IQVIA: German pharma market up in value in 2025, volumes slightly down

Germany’s pharma market increased in value in 2025 despite challenging conditions, while overall volumes edged down. This is the conclusion drawn by IQVIA in its market report covering the fourth quarter of 2025 and reflecting full-year results.

Total market: revenue growth, small decline in unit volumes

Across the two segments, retail pharmacy and hospital, revenue rose by 5.7 percent in 2025. In volume terms, the market was effectively flat, with 0.7 percent fewer counting units such as capsules, sprays or sachets sold compared with 2024.

For the total market, the figures are based on hospital sales at evaluated hospital prices and pharmacy sales including vaccines at the ex-manufacturer price, excluding mandatory rebates and savings from discount contracts. Volume is reported in counting units.

Pharmacy market: €58.4 billion in sales, pack volumes down

In the pharmacy market (brick-and-mortar and mail-order), sales of Rx and OTC medicines totaled €58.4 billion in 2025, up 5.9 percent year on year. Volume amounted to 1.67 billion packs and fell by 2.4 percent compared with 2024.

In this pharmacy segment analysis, volume is measured in packs. Sales are calculated using the ex-manufacturer price for medicines, vaccines and test diagnostics, minus the statutory manufacturer discount and reported rebates from negotiated reimbursement amounts under §130b SGB V. Savings from discount contracts are not included.

Prescription medicines outperform OTC

According to IQVIA, Rx developed more strongly than OTC medicines. Prescription therapies generated 6.7 percent higher sales than in the previous year, while OTC medicines were slightly lower in value terms (down 0.3 percent).

• Rx: pack volumes down 0.3 percent
• OTC: pack volumes down 4.2 percent

For OTC medicines, IQVIA also reports weaker month-to-month performance across several months between April and November 2025. Full-year OTC medicines volumes reached 868 million packs, with sales of €6.6 billion.

OTC total market: slower growth, slight volume decline

The OTC total market, which includes OTC medicines plus other non-prescription products such as mineral supplements or skin protection creams, increased by 2.6 percent in value to around €11.5 billion. Volumes declined by 1.0 percent to 941 million packs.

Note on methodology

IQVIA notes that the data basis was adjusted in summer 2025. Among other changes, the retail pharmacy panel was updated to reflect the declining number of pharmacies in Germany. For mail-order, new data sources and an enhanced modelling approach were introduced. As a result, absolute sales and volume figures changed.