Domestic Pharma Sales Fall For Second Straight Month

India’s pharmaceutical sales dropped for the second consecutive month in January as drugmakers saw a decline in sales of therapeutic drugs.

Pharma sales grew 7.6 percent year-on-year in January to Rs 12,078 crore, according to data released by AIOCD AWACS—a pharmaceutical market research firm. The industry had grown 8.8 percent in December and 14.5 percent in November. The growth rate in January 2019 was 10.8 percent.

Sales of popular therapeutic drugs slowed in January, slowing down growth, the research firm said.

Sales in January were supported by price and new product growth of 5.2 percent and 2.7 percent, respectively, the research firm said. Volumes, however, contracted 0.3 percent during the month.

In the last 12 month, domestic pharma industry’s volume growth stood at 1.8 percent, price growth at 5.2 percent and new product growth at 2.6 percent, the research firm said.

Key highlights For January 2020

• Acute, which accounts for 47 percent of the Indian pharma market, is growing at 9.2 percent.
• Chronic, which accounts for 33 percent of the Indian pharma market, is growing at 10.7 percent.
• Sub-chronic, which accounts for 20 percent of the Indian pharma market, is growing at 8.6 percent.
• MNCs grew at 3.6 percent during the month compared to 8.6 percent growth for Indian companies.
• Anti-infective market grew 9.2 percent, vitamins and minerals at 9 percent, gynaecology at 7.5 percent, anti-neoplastic at 8.3 percent and ophthalmology at 8.3 percent and gastro at 8 percent.
• Vaccines grew at 6.4 percent and antimalarial at 6.9 percent.

Here’s how pharma companies fared:

• Among the top 50 pharma companies, 27 firms exhibited double-digit growth with an average of 15 percent.
• Two of the top 50 pharma companies saw contraction in January.
• Among the top 10 companies, Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Macleods Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Intas Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Cadila Healthcare Ltd. grew in double digits whereas Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd., Mankind Pharma Ltd., Lupin Ltd., Cipla Ltd. and Alkem Alkem Laboratories Ltd. grew in single digits.
• Among the top 10 corporates, Torrent grew at 15.8 percent, followed by Macleods at 12.1 percent, Intas at 11.5 percent and Sun Pharma at 10.3 percent.
• Among the companies ranked between 11 and 20, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. grew at 20.4 percent, Aristo Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd. at 14.7 percent, Emcure Pharmaceuticals at 13.7 percent, Pfizer Ltd. at 13.2 percent, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd. at 11 percent and USV Pvt. Ltd. at 10 percent. The rest of the companies grew at less than 10 percent.
• Boehringer Ingelheim grew the most among multinational drugmakers, at 36 percent, followed by Eli Lilly at 27.4 percent.