Indian pharma sector grows at 16.5% in 2010

MUMBAI: The domestic pharma sector continued its strong show in 2010 and recorded a 16.5% growth during January-December. While Cipla topped the list with the highest market share, cough medication Corex (Pfizer) was the largest-selling brand in the organized retail market. Among the largest growing drugs for the year was Abbott's insulin Human Mixtard, which rose 27% to become the second largest-selling brand, displacing painkiller Voveran (Novartis) with a 6% growth.
2010 was also the second successive year of strong growth for the industry. The Rs 46,787-crore pharma market has been on an upswing over the last four years with a growth of 13-17%, buoyed by a strong demand, improved spending on healthcare and rising middle class incomes.
Growth in December was, however, subdued at nearly 6% as against 11.3% in November last year, according to market consultancy IMS.
Sameer Savkur, MD, IMS Health, says: "We see good growth across all therapies, indicating a strong patient demand-improved economic conditions have spurred spending on healthcare. Another factor driving growth is the increased efforts of pharma companies to expand reach and customer penetration. This is in line with our expectations and going forward we expect the trend to continue, with market growth for 2011 forecast in the range of 15-17%".
During 2010, Corex, the largest selling drug, recorded annual sales of Rs 205 crore. Pain-killer drug Voveran (Novartis) lost the second position to Human Mixtard (Abbott).
The fourth slot is occupied by cough syrup Phensedyl (Piramal), while GSK's Augmentin was the fifth largest-selling drug during the year.
Revital from Ranbaxy continues to be the largest selling nutraceutical product, along with Liv-52 from Himalaya. Becosules (Pfizer) gained substantially, moving from 11th to 8th position on the list. Antibiotic products Monocef (Aristo), Taxim (Alkem), Zifi (FDC), Mox (Ranbaxy) and Azithral (Alembic) were among the largest selling products.
Cipla maintained the top slot with a 5.21% market share. This is mainly because revenues of Abbott and Piramal Healthcare are yet to be combined, and figure separately. Otherwise, there were not many changes during the year. There were two new entrants to the top 10 club- Pfizer and Abbott, pushing Lupin and Aristo out. Lupin has been displaced to the 11th from 9th position and Aristo from the 10th to 12th position.
Almost all companies recorded a growth of over 10% for the year.
Among the companies, Mankind grew at the fastest pace of nearly 34%, followed by Abbott 26% (excluding Piramal which grew by 11.4%), and Zydus (18%).
Ganesh Nayak, executive director, Zydus Cadila, said, "The industry posting healthy growth consecutively for the second year reflects the inherent strengths of the industry and improving healthcare standards in the country. Despite very high inflation rates, demand for drugs and pharmaceuticals is on the rise, and is likely to continue next year as well. The nutraceutical segment will continue to have better-than-average growth with people getting more conscious of their general health and well-being."