Retail Pharma Sales Grew 5% to Over $379 billion Annual Rate
IMS
Health reported $379.29 billion
in drug sales through retail pharmacies in 13 key markets in the 12-month
period from August 2005 through to August 2006, a 5% growth from year
ago.
Sales in the top five European markets showed a 4% constant exchange growth. North America posted a 6% sales growth at $204.85 billion in sales in the 12 months to August. The key therapy growth area for North America was the cytostatics group with a 15% growth at constant exchange. Japan's overall growth at constant exchange was 2%, with $57.14 billion sales in the 12 months to August 2006.
The single largest therapeutic class in dollar sales continues to be Cardiovascular at $74.9 billion, followed by central nervous system therapy at $70.9 billion.
The best selling drug for the 12 months ending August 2006 was Lipitor, worth over $11.61 billion, with an increased growth at 4.2%. Nexium still has the largest growth at the top with 16.4%. The top 5 drugs in the year to August 2006 1. Lipitor, 2. Nexium, 3. Plavix, 4. Seretide, 5. Zocor
The top 5 corporations in the year to August 2006 were as follows which remained the same as our last survey. 1. Pfizer, 2. GlaxoSmithKline, 3. Novartis, 4. AstraZeneca, 5. Merck & Co.
IMS Retail Drug Monitor covers direct and indirect pharmacy channel purchases from wholesalers and manufacturers in 13 key countries. Sales figures are at ex-manufacturer prices and include all prescription and certain over-the-counter data. Figures include sales from the hospital sector in Japan and mail order in the USA. More information, including sales by broad therapeutic categories for each country, is available free to download at: http://open.imshealth.com/download/aug2006.pdf
