Interesting Bloomberg article today referencing IMS data on WW pharma sales:
Highlights:
1 - US is fastest growing (and largest) pharma market, with $68B (up 11%) of $179B (up 6%) in worldwide sales in the year ending 3/98
2 - CNS is where it's at (how ironic the neuroscience biotechs are the most depressed of the whole hammered down sector): "U.S. growth was fueled largely by central nervous system drugs, now the largest U.S. class at $14.5 billion in 1997 sales."
3 - Top Pharma companies in WW sales, same period:
1. Merck & Co. 2. Glaxo Wellcome Plc 3. Novartis AG 4. Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. 5. Johnson & Johnson Co. 6. Pfizer Inc. 7. American Home Products Corp. 8. SmithKline Beecham Plc 9. Hoechst AG 10. Eli Lilly & Co. 11. Roche Holding AG 12. Abbott Laboratories 13. Schering-Plough Corp. 14. Bayer AG 15. Astra AS 16. Warner-Lambert Co. 17. Rhone-Poulenc SA 18. Pharmacia & Upjohn Co. 19. Boehringer Ingelheim AG 20. Takeda Chemical Co. Ltd.
Higher U.S. Sales Sends World Drug Market Up 6% in Last 52 Wks
London, June 22 (Bloomberg) -- Surging sales of sedatives, antidepressants and tranquilizers pushed retail drug sales up 11 percent in the year to March in the U.S., the world's fastest- growing major drug market, market research firm IMS Health said.
Prescription drug sales through pharmacies in North America, the largest drug market, grew to $72.8 billion, with the U.S. making up $68.6 billion of those sales, IMS said in a report.
The U.S. proved to be the key driver in the $179 billion drug industry for the year. The global industry grew 6 percent in the year to March 1998 in the U.S., Europe, Japan, Argentina, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand, the largest markets.
U.S. growth was fueled largely by central nervous system drugs, now the largest U.S. class at $14.5 billion in 1997 sales. Of these, antidepressants like Eli Lilly & Co.'s Prozac and SmithKline Beecham Plc's Paxil surged 20 percent to $5 billion, while sedatives and tranquilizers grew 28 percent to $2.5 billion, IMS said.
Growth in the five largest European markets -- the U.K., France, Germany, Italy and Spain -- grew 5 percent to $49.4 billion. Recession-shocked Japan, the world's third-largest drug market, was alone of the major markets in posting a sales revenue drop of 5 percent, to $40.3 billion.
In Japan and Europe, drug prices are typically controlled by central government regulators, which routinely cut drug reimbursement levels to save costs. In the U.S., drug prices are subject to private negotiations in a decentralized market.
IMS also published a listing of the world's top 20 drug companies sales to both pharmacies and hospitals in 1997. Starting with the largest, they are: 1. Merck & Co. 2. Glaxo Wellcome Plc 3. Novartis AG 4. Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. 5. Johnson & Johnson Co. 6. Pfizer Inc. 7. American Home Products Corp. 8. SmithKline Beecham Plc 9. Hoechst AG 10. Eli Lilly & Co. 11. Roche Holding AG 12. Abbott Laboratories 13. Schering-Plough Corp. 14. Bayer AG 15. Astra AS 16. Warner-Lambert Co. 17. Rhone-Poulenc SA 18. Pharmacia & Upjohn Co. 19. Boehringer Ingelheim AG 20. Takeda Chemical Co. Ltd.
13:50:47 06/22/1998 |