Sandwiched between a Hero MotoCorp showroom and a shop that hires out cooking utensils is a small, dingy building that's been locked up. The non-descript two-room building is a manufacturing unit of Sresan Pharmaceuticals, the pharma company made its Coldriff cough syrup that has allegedly killed 25 children in Madhya Pradesh.
'Whichever company offers better incentives, the chemist would prefer it.'
Growth has been under pressure since the lockdowns related to Covid-19 started and fresh prescription generations slowed.
When compared to the domestic sales of April 2019, the growth is around 37 per cent. However, compared to the previous month (March), the growth is 18.4 per cent.
Medicine sales grew at a fast clip in smaller cities like Madurai, Meerut, Agra, and Varanasi in the last 12 months. The domestic pharmaceutical market, overall, has grown 12.3 per cent in this period, according to data from IQVIA MAT for April. MAT refers to the moving annual turnover or the turnover of the last 12 months. The data further showed that the top 30 cities contributed around 32 per cent to sales.
This is apart from the requirement to stock hydroxychloroquine (200 mg) and Azithromycin (500 mg) tablets for patients requiring ICU management, asymptomatic healthcare workers and asymptomatic household contacts of positive cases.
The legal regime does not permit home delivery of medicines, tough owing to situation of COVID-19 pandemic and an emergency-like situation, the government allowed the home delivery of medicines but it was meant for only neighbourhood pharmacies, AIOCD said.
Overall slowdown in the economy and growing volumes of unbranded generic medicines in the domestic market are behind poor sales.
The situation is severe in North India as most of the logistics operation was manned by migrant labourers from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The problem with manpower is not only in courier and delivery services, but also at a shop level.
In May, price growth for drugs was in negative territory at (-)1 per cent
The introduction of e-pharmacy, to protect the interest of a handful of players, would hamper the interest of 800,000 chemists and 80 lakh workers and their families
Drugs that are used to treat Covid or used by people as immunity boosters have seen a jump in sales and, in turn, rankings.
The intention of the government is to cap prices of drugs that are essential and which the public widely uses.
In India, itolizumab, known by the brand name Alzumab, has been priced at Rs 8,000 per vial. Most patients require four vials for Covid-19 treatment, taking the cost of the therapy to Rs 32,000.
There may be shortage of drugs till pharmaceutical companies supply new batches with revised MRPs.
Some 8.5 lakh chemists across the nation on Wednesday downed their shutters demanding action from the government against "illegal" online sale of medicines.
Medicines, including antibiotics, contraceptives and anti-diabetic drugs, were found to be out of stock at various places around Delhi.
The API of Paracetamol, a fever and pain medication, has grown 25 per cent from Rs 450-480 per kg in December 2020 to Rs 580-600 per kg in April. When compared to the pre-Covid prices of December 2019, the surge is much steeper -- around 140 per cent, reports Sohini Das.
Fabiflu sales have grown by 62 per cent in July. It was launched in June. This drug is being used by doctors for mild-to-moderate Covid patients even if they are in home isolation.
Companies seeking to tie up with nationwide pharmacy chain.
The industry feels two factors have played a role in improving the offtake and reducing trade inventory - one is that the supply chain in pharmaceuticals has more or less stabilised, and secondly, with lockdown curbs easing and OPDs opening, some demand has grown at the consumer end as well.
All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists, the apex body of over 500,000 chemists that manage the bulk of the Rs 50,000 crore
Big pharma companies, however, said while it was true that formulation players would not rush to buy raw material, they could not afford losing customers.
Aurobindo Pharma, Cadila Healthcare and Serum Institute are readying their vaccine candidates.
From rising prescriptions to the pharma sales force back on the field with full vigour and companies finally finding their feet with the digital marketing strategies - Indian drug makers have shown that medicine sales is certainly a sunshine sector.
Currency played an important role in Q2, with US dollar, Japanese yen and euro appreciating vis-a-vis the Indian rupee, while the Brazilian real, South African rand and Russian ruble depreciating against rupee.
Some of the popular brands that would be impacted include Phensedyl (Abbott), Tixylix (Abbott), Gluconorm PG (Lupin), Ascoril D (Glenmark), Solvin Cold (Ipca), D Cold Total (Paras Pharma).
India has capped the prices of 36 drugs, including those used to treat infections and diabetes, in its latest move to make essential medicines more affordable, a senior official of the country's drug pricing authority told Reuters on Friday.
FMCG, durables, pharma firms say they remain unclear about transition gains and losses
The next hearing on Pfizer's plea is slated for March 21
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