US Rx Drug Sales In Jan-April

US prescription drug sales rose 11% to $21.37 billion in January-April1997, reports IMS Drug Monitor (Marketletter July 14 and see also page 17 this issue).

The top five therapeutic categories (cardiovascular, alimentary/metabolism, central nervous system, anti-infectives and respiratory) represented 65% of US market share in the period. Of these, only respiratory products failed to reach double-digit growth, rising 8% to $2.27 billion. The strongest US growth was reported for anti-infectives, at 19%, to sales of $2.39 billion. The largest constituents of this group are the systemic antibiotics and the antivirals, both of which are achieving double-digit growth.

Biggest sellers in the USA are still the central nervous system drugs, rising 16% to just over $4 billion. Growth is being driven by antidepressants including Lilly's Prozac (fluoxetine) and SmithKline Beecham's Seroxat (paroxetine). Also showing high growth are the psycholeptics, antiepileptics and anti-smoking products, sales of the latter being boosted by a number of prescription to over-the-counter switches.