IMS Health, the world's leading provider of market intelligence to the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, announced the acquisition of RMBC, Russia's leading provider of national pharmaceutical market intelligence and analytics.

According to an IMS release, Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) are among the fastest-growing healthcare markets globally - representing a $10 billion market opportunity currently and growing at a rate of 10 - 15 per cent annually, compared with the 4 - 5 per cent annual growth forecasted in 2008 for the major Western Europe markets.

"The acquisition of RMBC is an important element of our growth strategy for IMS's Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) business, providing us with a strong platform to drive client value in the development of more powerful and compelling local market analytics and consulting services," said Adel Al-Saleh, president EMEA, IMS.

RMBC's retail and hospital prescribing data from Russia, the Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, combined with IMS's extensive global information, analytics and consulting offerings, will enable clients to more accurately forecast market share, understand prescribing trends, achieve optimal pricing and reimbursement, frame market access strategies, optimize sales operations and mitigate the risk of parallel imports.

"With the expansion of coverage in the Russia and CIS markets, clients will benefit from a consistent and internationally comparable view across global markets - powerful intelligence and analytics to help them develop platforms for strategic long-term growth," Al-Saleh added.