Novartis, the new company from the proposed merger of Swiss drug majors Ciba and Sandoz (Marketletters passim), along with reaching number two position as a worldwide pharmaceutical group, will become the fifth largest player in Europe's over-the-counter medicines market and seventh worldwide, according to a new report from Datamonitor.
For 1995, the combined consumer medicines operations of Ciba and Sandoz produced sales of $1.3 billion. Ciba's contribution to this total was $920 million. The combined market share will be 3.1% in Europe and 4.5% in the USA.
1995 sales for Novartis' leading OTC brands are shown in the table below. It will have a number of strong products such as Venouruton and Maalox, notes Datamonitor, but it will not have a leading product in the analgesia market, one of the largest OTC categories. However, this could be tackled, it adds, by the switching of Ciba's prescription non-steroidal anti-inflammatory Voltaren (diclofenac) to OTC. A low-dose version has already been switched in Italy, where is is called Novaparina.
This article is accessible to registered users, to continue reading please register for free. A free trial will give you access to exclusive features, interviews, round-ups and commentary from the sharpest minds in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology space for a week. If you are already a registered user please login. If your trial has come to an end, you can subscribe here.
Login to your accountTry before you buy
7 day trial access
Become a subscriber
Or £77 per month
The Pharma Letter is an extremely useful and valuable Life Sciences service that brings together a daily update on performance people and products. It’s part of the key information for keeping me informed
Chairman, Sanofi Aventis UK
Copyright © The Pharma Letter 2024 | Headless Content Management with Blaze