The analysis of the functioning of the pharmaceutical market of Ukraine in the context of implementing ethical codes and self-regulatory mechanisms for promotional activities

In the context of increasing competition in the pharmaceutical market of Ukraine and the growth of marketing investments, there is an urgent need to revise the legislative regulation of the drug promotion and to introduce professional self‑regulatory mechanisms aimed at preventing unethical practices, conflicts of interest, and enhancing trust in the healthcare system. Aim. To analyze the specific features of the functioning of the pharmaceutical market of Ukraine with an assessment of the coverage of its key stakeholders by ethical codes and industry self‑regulatory mechanisms of the drug promotion. Materials and methods. The study was based on data from scientific literature, media sources (Apteka Weekly, ThePharma.Media, FiercePharma), international and national regulatory acts and ethical codes, publicly available financial statements of pharmaceutical companies for 2023–2024, as well as data from the PharmXplorer analytical system for 2020 – the first half of 2025. The content analysis, comparative legal analysis, structural and logical analysis, and descriptive statistical methods with tabular and graphical presentation of results were applied. Results and discussion. The analysis of the dynamics of the number of manufacturers and marketing authorization holders operating in the pharmaceutical market of Ukraine during 2020–2024 showed that the share of domestic manufacturers remained stable (10–11 %), while the share of domestic marketing organizations increased from 36 % to 38 %. In 2024, Ukraine accounted for the largest individual share of retail sales by both country of manufacture (37 %) and country of the marketing organization (42 %), while foreign companies continued to dominate the total retail sales of medicinal products. Among foreign drug manufacturers, companies from Germany (16.4 %), India (11.4 %), Italy (9.6 %), and France (9.5 %) prevailed. Among international marketing organizations, India (15.3 %), Germany (14.4 %), and the United Kingdom (8.7 %) held leading positions in terms of the number of companies. It was found that in 2024, Germany had the largest share in the structure of retail sales by both country of manufacture and country of the marketing organization among major foreign companies (13 % and 11 %, respectively). It was found that only about 10–11 % of marketing organizations were formally covered by industry ethical codes; however, these organizations account for nearly 44 % of the retail pharmaceutical market. The analysis of financial statements revealed a substantial share of marketing expenditures in the sales cost structure of leading domestic companies, reaching 57.8–77.4 % in 2024. Conclusions. The results obtained indicate an uneven development of ethical self‑regulatory mechanisms in the pharmaceutical market of Ukraine and their limited quantitative coverage despite high economic concentration. This substantiates the need to expand industry self‑regulation practices among national manufacturers and marketing organizations and harmonize the national regulation of the drug promotion with international ethical standards, taking into account the market structure and the concentration of marketing expenditures.