World Pharma Sales up 13% In 1995 First-Quarter

Sales of pharmaceutical products through retail pharmacy outlets in the world's 10 leading markets increased 13% in the first three months of 1995 to reach a total of $34.17 billion worldwide, according to figures published last week by IMS International. This compares to a rise of 12% for the first two months of this year, and an increase of only 1% for the first quarter of 1994.

Sales in the USA rose 13% to $13.86 billion in January-march 1995, while Japan's growth was the highest of any market, at 20%, reaching a total of $6.21 billion, compared with a fall of 6% in first-quarter 1994. the top seven European markets had combined sales of $13.22 billion in the quarter, an advance of 9%.

Spanish Sales Up 15% Within the European top seven, the fastest growth was reported for the Spanish market, rising 15% to $1.16 billion. This was followed by Germany, which advanced 11% to $4.08 billion and the UK, which rose 10% to $1.50 billion. Sales in both France and the Netherlands were up 9%, reaching $3.58 billion and $490 million respectively, while turnover in belgium was up 7% to $474 million and Italy rose 4% to $1.93 billion.