World OTC Market Growth Disappoints In 1995

In 1995, the world market for over-the-counter medicines grew only 3.6% overall, to reach a total value of $41.3 billion at manufacturers' selling prices. This compares poorly to the growth of 4.7% experienced in 1994 and increases of over 5% in 1991, 1992 and 1993, according to data presented by Nicholas Hall & Co, publisher of OTC News and Market Report, at the firm's annual self-medication conference, held in Vienna, Austria, this month (see also page x).

While the OTC market is growing, it is not expanding as fast as expected, or fast enough, company chairman and chief executive Nicholas Hall told the meeting. Once the effects of inflation and the rapid growth last year of markets in Latin America and South and Southeast Asia are discounted, the picture is of poor performance, he said, especially in Japan.

The largest OTC markets last year were the USA and Europe, accounting for 28.6% and 28.2% of the total respectively and sales of $11.8 billion and $11.6 billion, Mr Hall told the meeting. However, by 2005, when the world market is expected to have risen 49% in value to $61.5 billion, Europe's slice of the total will have expanded significantly, with sales rising 62% over the period to total $19 billion by 2005, compared to a forecast 10-year sales increase of 34% for the USA, rising to a value of $15.1 billion.