US prescription growth stalls in 2008
pharmafile | April 3, 2009 | News story | Sales and Marketing |Â Â USÂ
US prescription sales growth was just 1.3% in 2008, well down on the typical 5%-plus in recent years, according to IMS Health.
The sector was pegged back by higher demand for less-expensive generic medicines, reduced sales of new products as a result of regulatory delays and reduced consumer demand due to the economic turndown, with dispensed prescription volume growing at just 0.9%, said IMS.
"It is the lowest growth we have ever seen," said Diana Conmy, corporate director of market insights at IMS Health.
Slowdown in demand is being exacerbated currently, compared to earlier economic downturns, because the cost of insurance premiums and co-payments has risen, according to Conmy.
Not too long ago the pharmaceutical industry was routinely posting growth in double-digits, but chances of a return to those heady days anytime soon appear slim.
Last year's biggest-selling product was once again Pfizer's cholesterol drug Lipitor (atorvastatin) with turnover of $7.8 billion, albeit down nearly 4%, but loss of patent protection is looming for this and other top-selling brands – and there is a dearth of blockbuster candidates to replace them.
Overall, prescription sales came in at $291.5bn, with the best performances coming from antipsychotics, up 11.5% to $14.6bn.
Lipid regulators remained the most widely-dispensed retail prescription medications on a volume basis, with 202 million prescriptions, but slipped into second place by value down 11.6% on 2007 to $14.5bn.
They were followed by proton pump inhibitors at $13.9bn, down 2.1%, and driven by a solid 7.3% sales increase for AstraZeneca's PPI Nexium (esomeprazole) to $5.9bn. Next came drugs for seizure disorders, rising 10.8% to a 2008 total $1.3bn.
After Lipitor and Nexium, the top selling products in 2008 were Sanofi-Aventis and Bristol-Myers Squibb's blood thinner Plavix (clopidogrel), up nearly 25% to $4.9bn, asthma drug Advair Diskus (salmeterol and fluticasone) from GlaxoSmithKline at $4.4bn, up 2%, and AstraZeneca's antipsychotic Seroquel (quetiapine) with US sales up 11% to $3.9bn.
Biotechnology-based medicines accounted for 15%, or $45.9bn, of the total US market.
Figures for world pharmaceutical sales will be released later this month, said IMS.
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