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The Indian pharmaceutical market scrambled out of a three-month lull to achieve a 2.5 per cent sales growth in November over the corresponding period last year.
The revival, brought by stockists raising supply and higher business in select therapies, comes after overall volumes shrank during August-October, the period when a Government order on capping rates of 348 essential medicines began to take effect.
Sluggish price growth As a result, drug makers are grappling with sluggish price growth, which stood at 0.8 per cent, said a study by market research firm AIOCD Pharmasofttech AWACS.
After the Drug (Prices Control) Order 2013 capped medicine prices in early August, stockists and retailers protested a cut in margins imposed by manufacturers to make up for lower selling prices.
With drug-makers restoring their margins and suppliers resuming operations, sales have increased, helped by a seasonal change that brought more business for anti-infectives and respiratory drugs segments.
The study says foreign multinationals have seen their business shrink 5.1 per cent on an average in November against the 11.1 per cent growth registered by Indian companies.
S. Somaskandan, General-Secretary, Tamil Nadu Pharmaceutical Distributors Association, told Business Line that some foreign firms have not agreed to restore margins, marring their brands among stockists and retailers.
GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals has agreed to restore margins only by July 2014, while signs of relenting are yet to emerge from Mumbai-headquartered Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, he added.
Indian firms that saw their business grow sizeably include Corona Remedies (87 per cent), Biocon (49.6 per cent), and Ipca Laboratories (28.3 per cent).
Mumbai-based Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, one of the 34 firms that outstripped the 6.9 per cent growth rate of the overall market in November, says new product launches in its core therapeutic segments helped it sustain growth at 18 per cent.
A company spokesperson said: “We believe we will continue to grow with sustained focus on cardio-metabolism, dermatology, and respiratory diseases.”
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