Retail drug sales in year to July 2008

Retail pharmacy drug sales in 13 major markets during the 12 months to July 2008 have reached $438.0 billion, reports IMS Health's Retail Drug Monitor. Since the June results (Marketletter August 18), the UK remains the only country to experience negative growth and has been overtaken by Canada and Italy, which both have smaller populations (see page 10). Currency fluctuations may cause the ranking between these nations to fluctuate in the short term. The fastest-expanding region remains Australia and New Zealand, with a combined market of $8.1 billion, up 12%, the same growth as the previous IMS data.

The leading nations in the Latin American market grew 9%, unchanged since May. Sales in the three Latin countries reached $24.1 billion. Argentina remains the fastest-expanding market surveyed by IMS, with year-on-year growth at 20% to $3.0 billion. Brazil holds to a steady and vigorous 10% advance, the second-fastest for any single country covered in the survey, reaching $12.2 billion. Mexico again slid one percentage point, down from the previous growth data for a rate of 5% to $8.8 billion.

Canada and Italy overtake struggling UK