The self-care, or Consumer Health, sector has shown constant growth in recent years, transcending the post-pandemic recovery. The importance that citizens give more and more to prevention and healthy habits is being one of the driving factors behind the development of this activity.
A few days before the end of fiscal year 2024, it is estimated that the medicines and self-care products market will grow between 5% and 7%, led by the personal care products segment with 9.9%, and OTC (Over The Counter), with 8.7%. By therapeutic areas, ophthalmic, anti-flu and anti-cold have been the most used medications and self-care products in recent months.
Looking ahead to the next few years, the market for medicines and self-care products still has a way to go to continue its development in the terms in which it is doing so now, it is estimated that growth in 2025 could be between 4% and 6%as long as macroeconomic variables are maintained in Spain that have a positive impact on citizens.
Key areas for the sector
In 2025, the Association for Health Self-Care (anefp), which brings together companies that manufacture and market medications and products for self-care, will follow the roadmap established in its Strategic Planwhich has digitalization, sustainability, regulations and self-regulation as its pillars and future challenges.
In the regulatory field, the self-care sector closes the 2024 financial year with its inclusion in the Pharmaceutical Industry Strategy, presented a few days ago by the Government, and which the general director of anefp, Jaume Pey, values very positively: “It represents the recognition of the value that Consumer Health companies have as an industrial sector and as an innovative sector, in addition to highlighting their contribution to the sustainability of the health system, through prevention,” he stated.
Likewise, 2025 will bring progress in the development and updating of regulations such as the Law on Guarantees and Rational Use of Medicines and Health Products, the royal decrees on prices and advertising of medicines and health products, or the review of the pharmaceutical regulatory framework. European legislation, all of which will have a great impact on the self-care sector in Spain, which demands a future legislative environmentwhich makes possible the development of this market and its greater contribution to the sustainability of health systems and the health of citizens.
In the field of self-regulation, the Anefp Seal process, launched by the association, with the collaboration of the Ministry of Health, eleven years ago, and which represents an endorsement of responsible, truthful and quality advertising, is preparing to celebrate in 2025 an important milestone, the granting of more than 10,000 anefp stamps to advertising projects aimed at the public for medicines and self-care health products, which demonstrates the commitment of self-care companies to responsible, quality, balanced advertising that provides information to citizens and health professionals.
Digitization and accessibility
Digitalization is another of the pillars of the Strategic Plan of the self-care sector and also a challenge. In this sense, the association is currently implementing its Turing projectwhich aims to optimize processes, gain efficiency and offer new valuable services to its associated companies, through this pioneering initiative in the healthcare field and whose first results will be a reality next year.
In terms of accessibility, the self-care sector has taken significant steps by incorporating sign language in the advertising of self-care medications and signing a collaboration agreement with the Spanish Council for the Defense of Disability and Dependency (CEDDD). “The objective is to promote good self-care practices in the areas of disability, dependency and the elderly and to promote the accessibility of all citizens to information on self-care products,” highlighted Jaume Pey.
Sustainability
Another of the challenges of the sector is environmental sustainability, which is based on the commitment of self-care companies to the health of people, the health of the planet and the care of the environment in a rational and transparent way, always maintaining the balance between health and sustainability. .
At this point, the general director of anefp highlights that the self-care sector is highly regulated in the field of environmental sustainability: from the manufacturing, authorization and marketing processes of its products, adding to this regulation the voluntary controls by the own companies, which invest resources in being more sustainable, and participating in SIGRE, a waste treatment system for medicines and medicine packaging that Spain has, which is a pioneer in Europe and to which anefp belongs.
Regarding the current status of the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive, anefp reiterates the sector’s commitment to clean water and considers that all sectors whose activity could have a negative impact on the health of the planet must participate in minimizing wastewater. risks to the environment. “We ask that the directive be concrete, rigorous and transparent,” confirmed the general director of anefp, who also mentions the ecodesign guide on which the association is currently working and which will be presented in 2025, with the aim of putting on the market packs of medicines and self-care products that are increasingly harmonious and respectful of the environment.
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