Healthy Skepticism Library item: 4911

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

Global drug sales grew 5 pct in year to March -IMS
Reuters 2006 May 17
http://yahoo.reuters.com/stocks/QuoteCompanyNewsArticle.aspx?storyID=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20060517:MTFH59038_2006-05-17_08-37-49_L17622252&symbol=PFE.N&rpc=44

Notes:

Ralph Faggotter’s Comments:

“The largest drug class was cholesterol-lowering medicines, which sold $29 billion and showed a growth rate of 7 percent.”

Unfortunately, due to a monumental mis-information campaign, only a tiny fraction of the people taking these drugs will actually benefit from doing so!

Full text:

Global drug sales grew 5 pct in year to March -IMS
Wed May 17, 2006 4:38 AM ET

LONDON, May 17 (Reuters) – Global pharmaceutical sales grew 5 percent in the 12 months to March in leading markets, the same rate recorded a month earlier, healthcare information company IMS Health said on Wednesday.

Sales through retail pharmacies in 13 leading markets, which account for more than two-thirds of the world market, totalled $372 billion in the period.

Sales in the top five European markets grew 5 percent at constant exchange rates, 1 percentage point more than in the 12 months to February, while North American growth held steady at 5 percent.

Japanese growth in the period dipped slightly to 5 percent from 6 percent previously.

Drug sales growth has slowed around the world in recent years, hit by generic competition to branded medicines and curbs on healthcare spending, which have put pressure on prices.

The largest drug class was cholesterol-lowering medicines, which sold $29 billion and showed a growth rate of 7 percent.

Pfizer Inc.‘s (PFE.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Lipitor cholesterol pill remained the top-selling drug, with sales of $11.25 billion, followed by AstraZeneca Plc’s (AZN.L: Quote, Profile, Research) Nexium, Sanofi-Aventis (SASY.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.‘s (BMY.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Plavix, Merck & Co Inc.‘s (MRK.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Zocor and GlaxoSmithKline Plc’s (GSK.L: Quote, Profile, Research) Advair/Seretide.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.