IMS Retail Drug Monitor November 2007

The November edition of IMS Retail Drug Monitor shows a 4% growth in drug sales through retail pharmacies in 13 key markets in the 12-month period from December 2006 through to November 2007, closing at US$ 414.6 billion.

IMS Retail Drug Monitor covers direct and indirect pharmacy channel purcha-ses from wholesalers and manufacturers in 13 key countries. Sales figures are at ex-manufacturer prices and include all prescription and certain over-the-counter data. Figures include sales from the hos-pital sector in Japan and mail order in the USA.

Highlights This Month

This summary provides a regular view of the market.

Company summary

The top 5 corporations in the 12 months to November 2007 were:

1. PFIZER

2. GLAXOSMITHKLINE

3. NOVARTIS

4. ASTRAZENECA

5. SANOFI-AVENTIS

Product summary

The top 5 drugs in the 12 months to November 2007 were:

1. LIPITOR

2. NEXIUM

3. SERETIDE

4. PLAVIX

5. ENBRE

Top 5 therapy classes at ATC2 level in the 12 months to November 2007 were:

C10A, A2B, N6A, N5A, N3A.

Sales figures here cover direct and indi-rect pharmaceutical channel purchases (pharmacies plus hospital in Japan and mail order in the USA) from pharmaceu-tical wholesalers and manufacturers in 13 key global markets. Figures include prescription and certain over-the-counter data, and represent manufacturer prices. These countries account for over two thirds of the world market.

These figures are taken from the monthly pharmaceutical audit conducted by IMS Health, the leading provider of healthca-re information worldwide and cover the 12 month period indicated.

All sales values are shown in millions of dollars at prevailing exchange rates. In order to remove the effects of fluctua-ting exchange rates, growth rates are calculated net of exchange, in other words, growth figures are shown at local currency level or constant exchan-ge except for the majority of the Latin America countries exclusive of Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Peru. In Argentina and Brazil sales are recorded in US dollars in Mexico – local currency. The unique system in Japan reduces the importance of the pharmacy in the dis-tribution chain – sales reported include hospital data. In other countries sales monitored are limited to retail phar-macy only and do not include hospital data. In the USA our survey includes sales through mail order channels. Further details from the Media section of www.imshealth.com.