Japan Lipitor launch: a threat for statins

Over three years after its initial launch in the UK and USA,Warner-Lambert's lipid-lowering drug Lipitor (atorvastatin) has finally reached the market in Japan (Marketletters passim), where it is licensed to Yamanouchi. According to a new report from Datamonitor, it is expected to challenge the current Japanese market sector leader, Sankyo's Mevalotin (pravastatin), and propel the brand rapidly above Merck & Co's Zocor (simvastatin) in the $12.7 billion global statins market.

In 1999, Zocor held a 35.5% market share of global statin sales, followed by Lipitor with 29.2%. However, Lipitor grew at a faster rate (69%) over the 1998-99 period than Zocor, which saw growth of only 14%. [As far as Japan is concerned, in the time from its launch on May 11 to the end of that month, Lipitor sales had already reached around $28 million (Marketletter June 19) Ed.]

Lipitor matches unmet need in Japan