BackDomestic drug sales cross Rs87,000 crore despite pricing control
Despite significant price control on essential drugs across almost all therapy groups, sales by Indian manufacturers in December 2014 grew 14.4%
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Mumbai: India’s drug market grew 11% to touch ₹ 87,235.19 crore in the 13 months ended 31 December 2014 powered by local drug makers, data showed.
Despite significant price control on essential drugs across almost all therapy groups, sales by Indian manufacturers in December 2014 grew 14.4%, drug market researcher IMS Health and Consulting Information Services India Ltd said.
The IMS released data for December 2014 as well as for the 13 months from 1 December 2013 to 31 December 2014.
The top 10 drug makers accounted for 40% of sales in the 13-month period. Among the top 10 companies, Cipla Ltd grew 24%. Eighteen of its products are among the country’s 300 top-selling brands.
Anti-infection drugs constituted the biggest therapy segment, with a market share of 13.3% in December.
As per December’s moving annual turnover (MAT) Abbott Laboratories group maintained its top position in market share with a market share of 6.45%. Mankind Pharma Ltd, Torrent Pharma Ltd and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd have gained by a rank each and moved to 7th, 13th and 18th positions respectively.
Among the top 25 companies, MSD Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd, the Indian unit of US drug maker Merck and Co. Inc., gained 2 ranks and moved to 25th position in December.
GlaxoSmithKline Pharma Ltd, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd, USV Ltd, Micro Labs Ltd and Novartis Ltd gained one rank each and moved to 7th, 17th, 18th, 20th and 22nd positions respectively.
Drugs impacted by the drug price control made up 13% of the market in value terms, with stagnant growth of 0.4% in 14 December over the same period last year. The share of the non-essential drugs rose from 85.4% in December 2013 to 87% in December 2014 in value terms.
The price control on drugs in the national essential medicines (NLEM) list had its impact on the overall sales value although it did not affect volume growth. The volume of NLEM dugs declined to 21.8% from 23.3% during the 13-month period.
Indian companies continued to capture the larger share of the market at 73% during December, with a sales growth of 14.4%. Foreign drug makers accounted for about 30% of the market, with 3 of them (Abbott, GSK Pharma and Pfzer Ltd) in the top ten group.
Acute or short-term therapies continued to dominate the market accounting for 68.6% of the market with a growth of 11.1% and chronic therapies registered higher growth of 16.5% in December 2014.
Cough preparation was the highest selling therapeutic subgroup in value terms, the IMS December data showed.
Anti-diabetic and cardiac therapies recorded 20% and 15% value growth respectively during the last 12 months (MAT December 2014), according to IMS research.
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