Indian pharma market grew 10.9 % in May, sale of chronic illness drugs drive growth

Are Indian patients with chronic illnesses stockpiling medicines as a precaution against possible price increases or supply disruptions arising from geopolitical disturbances in the Gulf ?

Well, that could be one of the reasons why domestic pharmaceutical sales for the month of May showed a 10.9% growth, with most of the top therapies showing double digit growth, says Sheetal Sapale, vice-president of pharma market intelligence firm Pharmarack Technologies.

"In therapies like cardiac, diabetes, nutritionals, even in respiratory segment, especially asthma, we are seeing significant growth where patients are trying to keep their stocks well in advance. One of the reasons is that it (the growth) is seen in the case of most chronic therapies where the medication needs to be taken on a regular basis. This may be because there is a war situation and there are lot of news about prices likely to go up, or availability becoming a problem," Sapale said.

According to Pharma Trac pharmaceutical sales data, cardiac segment which clocked ₹3,184 crore, the largest segment with 14.6% share in the IPM in May, grew 13.9% that month. Anti-diabetic segment (₹2,151 crore) grew 16.8%. Vitamins, minerals and nutrients segment (₹2,024 crore) grew 12.5% in May. Respiratory segment (₹1,411 crore) was another therapeutic area that saw above average growth of 12.3% during last month.

The Top-10 brands for May on a 12 month moving annual total (MAT) basis were Mounjaro (Eli Lilly), Augmentin (GSK), Glycomet GP (USV), Foracort (CIPLA), PAN (Alkem), Mixtard (Abbott), Zerodol SP (IPCA), Clavam (Alkem), LIV.52 (Himalaya), and PAN D (Alkem).

The monthly domestic pharma sales data for May indicates that unlike chronic therapies, growth in gastro or anti-injective therapies, or the accompanying pain segment, has not been as robust, as these are mostly sought for seasonal illnesses, especially during monsoons.

Pharmarack data shows gastro intestinal segment, the second biggest therapeutic segment in IPM, to have grown 6.7% in May to touch ₹2,680 crores.

New products continued to be a growth driver for IPM for most of the top therapies. Leading companies also showed double digit value growth in May.