Drug Sales Up 6% to $185B For World's Top Markets In '98
This report was first published Monday.
By Otesa Middleton
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--Pharmaceutical sales in top markets worldwide rose 6% to $185.4 billion for 12 months ending in December.
Sales for the 1997 period were $177.7 billion.
Sales were up in 12 global markets according to data from the pharmaceutical auditor IMS Health (RX). The company compiled data on pharmaceutical sales in the U.S., Spain, Italy, the U.K., Germany, France, Japan, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Australia/New Zealand.
Treatments in the genital and urinary class led growth in North America with a 19% jump.
Sparked by the overwhelming success of Pfizer Inc.'s (PFE) impotence drug Viagra, central nervous system drugs sales in the U.S. and Canada grew by 18%.
In the U.S., sales rose to $74.1 billion to $70.6 billion.
Antiviral drugs sales, which include therapies for AIDS, grew by 23% in the U.S.
In the 12 markets studied, cardiovascular drugs remained the top category. Total sales rose 7% to $36.9 billion up from $35.3 billion the previous year.
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