Turkey’s pharmaceutical industry recorded steady growth in R&D spending between 2020 and 2024. The sector’s resources allocated to research and development activities rose from 676.2 million liras in 2020 to 5.6 billion liras in 2024.
This increase means that R&D spending rose by 723 percent and grew 8.3-fold over the five-year period. During the same period, the total size of Turkey’s pharmaceutical market reached 479 billion liras, up from 56 billion liras.
R&D investments are expanding product diversity
The pharmaceutical industry stands out as a field that requires substantial investment capital, uses advanced technology and conducts intensive R&D activities. Alongside technological advances, the sector is developing products aimed not only at treating diseases but also at improving quality of life.
Companies that develop new products and introduce reference medicines protected by patents to the market are defined as originator pharmaceutical companies. Growth in R&D investments contributes to the launch of new medicines and increased product diversity in the short term, while strengthening competition between originator and generic medicines in the long term.
Global companies hold a 49 percent share of Turkey’s market
Companies ranked among the world’s top 50 in pharmaceutical sales account for 88 percent of the U.S. pharmaceutical market and 49 percent of the Turkish market. These figures show that globally active companies hold a significant share of Turkey’s pharmaceutical market.
Domestic companies and other international firms also maintain their strong positions in the Turkish market. R&D spending in the global pharmaceutical industry rose by 3 percent in 2025 from the previous year to reach $201.3 billion.
The United States ranked first in global R&D spending, with $130.1 billion.
Domestic production and innovative medicine capacity are being targeted
Turkey’s pharmaceutical industry stands out with its high value-added production structure, skilled employment capacity and R&D-intensive activities. Under the 12th Development Plan, the goals include increasing domestic production potential, reducing dependence on foreign sources and strengthening the capacity to develop innovative medicines.
Share of domestically manufactured medicines surpassed imported products
The share of medicines manufactured in Turkey remained above that of imported medicines between 2020 and 2025, both in terms of sales value and number of boxes.
Domestically manufactured medicines accounted for 59.6 percent of total sales value, while imported medicines accounted for 40.4 percent. In terms of the number of boxes, domestically manufactured medicines held a 90 percent share, compared with 10 percent for imported medicines.
