Indian Pharma Market sees 12.1 percent growth in August: AIOCD-AWACS Report

"A robust 12% growth of the IPM seems to be supported by a good volume driven growth for majority of the therapy areas," the AWACS report said. It also claimed that COVID influence had reduced drastically by July 21 last year and most of the therapies had started following the normal seasonal trends. For the month of August 22, price increase led growth seems to be slightly higher than the volume growth.

IPM recorded sales of Rs 16,239 crore for August month, and most of the therapies showed a well balanced double digit value and unit growth.

The fastest growing categories were cardiac which grew at 13 percent, anti-infectives - 13 percent and gastrointestinal - 12 percent. Anti-diabetes and vitamins grew 9 percent respectively. The month of August saw very few launches in the the Sitagliptin Generics segment.

Mankind, Cipla and Glenmark stood out with double digit value and unit growth among top 20 corporate. Meanwhile, Augmentin by GSK, USV's Glycomet GP and Mixtard of Abbott maintained the top ranks at month and MAT level. These remained top 3 selling brands in India.

Further, as per the market research firm, the pharma industry has increased the prices by 10% on drugs under price control, along with monsoon linked infectious diseases due to Wholesale Pricing Index (WPI) inflation-linked price hike permitted by the government.

Key Takeaways

• The initial surge of new introductions and quantity pick up in the Sitagliptin market seems to have plateaued in the month of August. This may be because of the limited patient population available.

• There is a gradual shift seen from Sulphonylureas to DPP4-i over a period of time

• Majority of the therapies in the IPM show a robust value and unit growth indicating strong positive trendlines in the coming months