Healthy Skepticism Library item: 3886
Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.
Publication type: news
Agovino T.
Drug Sales in Developing Nations Surge
Associated Press 2006 Mar 21
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060321/worldwide_pharmaceutical_sales.html?.v=2
Notes:
Ralph Faggotter’s comments:
Sales of paharmaceuticals into new markets- Latin America, China and Mexico are increasing rapidly.
Whether or not this is a good thing depends on what drugs are being consumed, by whom, and for what purpose.
No doubt a mixed picture will eventually emerge- perhaps similar to the consumption patterns in more ‘mature’ drug consuming markets?
Full text:
AP
Drug Sales in Developing Nations Surge
Tuesday March 21, 10:23 pm ET
By Theresa Agovino, AP Business Writer
Pharmaceutical Sales in the Developing World Outpace Overall Global Growth,
Report Says
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060321/worldwide_pharmaceutical_sales.html?.v=2
NEW YORK (AP) — Economic expansion in developing countries helped boost
pharmaceutical sales in countries like China and Mexico to double-digit
growth last year, outpacing sales in larger markets such as the U.S., Japan
and Germany, according to a report released Tuesday.
IMS Health, which provides market information on the pharmaceutical
industry, said that drug sales around the world rose 7 percent to $602
billion in 2005, but sales in China increased 20 percent to $9.3 billion and
sales in Mexico rose 12 percent to $7.5 billion.
Many countries in the developing world are experiencing significant growth
which is allowing them to finance health care improvements, including
purchasing more drugs, said Murray Aitken, senior vice president of
corporate strategy at IMS.
Sales in Latin America, for example, grew 18.5 percent to $24 billion in
2005 while revenue in the Asia-Pacific region, excluding Japan, and Africa
together rose 11 percent to $46.4 billion.
Meanwhile, growth in the ten major markets — including the United States,
Canada, Japan and Germany — rose 5.7 percent, compared to a 7.2 percent
increase in 2004. Drug sales in the United States and Canada, which account
for 47 percent of global pharmaceutical sales, grew 5.2 percent to $265.7
billion, a slowdown from the 8.5 percent advance in 2004.
Aitken said growth in the U.S. revenues was tempered by the loss of sales
from Cox-2 pain relievers, a class of drugs which includes Merck & Co.‘s
Vioxx and Celebrex, and Bextra from Pfizer Inc. Merck & Co. removed Vioxx
from the market in September 2004 after a study showed it doubled patients
risk of heart attack and strokes after 18 months. Pfizer Inc.‘s Celebrex, a
drug in the same class as Vioxx , was also linked to cardiovascular problems
and its sales have swooned.
Aitken also noted that as health care costs become an increasing concern in
the United States, insurers are pushing consumers to use generic drugs,
which are cheaper.
Last year, 94 products exceeded revenues of $1 billion, with 17 new drugs
joining the category known as blockbusters. Among the newcomers were two
cholesterol lowering drugs, Crestor from AstraZeneca PLC and Vytorin, which
is made by a joint venture between Merck and Schering-Plough Corp.
Five drugs lost blockbuster status including Vioxx and Bextra, which Pfizer
removed from the market last year at the request of the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration.
