Astra's Losec "World's No One Drug In 1998-2000"

Glaxo Wellcome's H2 antagonist Zantac (ranitidine), currently the world's top-selling pharmaceutical product in terms of sales, will relinquish this position to Astra's Losec (omeprazole) in 1998, according to a new study from Datamonitor, available through the Marketletter's offices.

Losec will then remain as the world's top-selling drug product until 2000, according to the study, which is entitled Pharma Census: Drugs. The introduction of the more effective proton pump inhibitors, together with Zantac's loss of patent, provide substance to the belief that the product's days as a leading antiulcer treatment are numbered.

Forecast Of The World's Top 14 Drugs In 2000 Company Drug Generic Forecast 2000 Sales ($m) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Astra Losec omeprazole 3,800 2 Merck & Co Zocor simvastatin 3,000 3 Merck & Co Vasotec enalapril 2,300 4 Pfizer Procardia XL nifedipine 1,780 5 Pfizer Norvasc amlodipine 1,600 6 Pfizer Diflucan fluconazole 1,500 7 Merck & Co Cozaar losartan 1,340 8 Novo Nordisk Novolin insulin 1,300 9 Lilly Prozac fluoxetine 1,200 10 Sankyo Mevalotin pravastatin 1,140 11 Abbott Biaxin/Klaricid clarithromycin 1,134 12 Amgen Epogen erythropoietin 1,080 13 Glaxo Wellcome Zantac ranitidine 1,070 14 SmithKline Beecham Augmentin co-amoxiclav 1,064 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Source: Datamonitor