Cough & cold medicines overtake antibiotics

Mumbai: Cough and cold seem to be our biggest worry as far as healthcare concerns go. The trend is visible with not only certain cough and cold medicines being the largest selling drugs, but with popular cough medication Phensedyl also overtaking antibiotic Augmentin to become the top-selling drug in the pharma retail market. 

    Phensedyl, after showing a dip earlier this year, has regained its share from Augmentin. Phensedyl which is marketed by Abbott, witnessed a growth of little over 12% for the 12-month period ended October this year, while GlaxoSmithKine's Augmentin grew just 7% during the period, according to consultancy firm, IMS Health which tracks retail pharma sales. 
    Industry experts say that sales of cough and cold medications register a spurt during the August-October months with the rise of respiratory infections. There may also be a host of issues at play including the supply of the medication as well as raw material for manufacturing it. Phensedyl had a market share of 0.43%, while Augmentin was slightly lower at 0.40%, followed by anti-diabetic therapy Human Mixtard at 0.39% and cough and cold drug Corex at 0.37% during the 12-month period ended Octoberthis year. 
    Others which posted a robust double-digit growth during the 12-month period include Human Mixtard, Revital, Monocef and Betadine. In October, Corex was the top-selling brand, followed by Augmentin, Phensedyl and Human Mixtard was at the fourth slot in the over Rs 5,000-crore market. The overall growth in October dipped to 13%, the lowest during the year. 
    Says Amit Backliwal, MD IMS Health, "Though the 13% growth registered by the industry in October 2011 is the lowest growth observed over the past 10 months, it still remains healthy and in double-digits. A look at the past trends indicates that the market trajectory in 2011 is in line with previous years; sales have peaked in the July-September quarter (coinciding with the monsoon season where infectious / respiratory diseases also peak), and then declined marginally, which is a normal trend. We expect the industry growth for FY11 to remain bullish in the range of 14-17%, and in-line with the IMS Market Prognosis report forecast". 
    While the top pecking order in terms of market share remained the same led by multinational Abbott, there was a huge growth witnessed in certain mid-size companies. 
    "One such prime example is Macleods Pharma, which we believe will move to into the elite top-10 players group very soon, if they continue to clock their current growth momentum," he added.