A change in the timing of the Diwali festival led to slower growth numbers for pharma products in November.
Diwali occurred in October last year but was celebrated in November this year.
The festival usually sees lower drug sales with doctors being on holiday. Data compiled by pharma market research firm AIOCD AWACS suggests a tardy 4.1 per cent growth in drugs sales.
This led to inventory pile-up at the retailer’s end.
The average closing stock (as a proportion of sales) for the industry increased by 2.5 days to 22.3 days in November, compared to the previous year.
While Sun Pharma saw the slowest rise in closing stock levels at 1.3 days, Ranbaxy (increase of 2.9 days) and Cipla (2.3 days) witnessed the sharpest increases in inventory levels.
Despite the slow down in the industry, some companies managed to outpace the market. In the listed space, Zydus Cadila (16.4 per cent), Sun Pharma (15 per cent), Ranbaxy (12.1 per cent), Lupin (10.6 per cent) and Glenmark (10.3 per cent) posted healthy double-digit growth. Astrazeneca’s sales slumped the most, declining 23.1 per cent over November last year.
Alembic (10.3 per cent decline), Orchid (9 per cent), Wockhardt (7 per cent), Biocon (5.9 per cent) and IPCA (4.2 per cent) also witnessed decline in sales for the month.
Sales of anti-malarial drugs fell 11.8 per cent for the month, on a year-on-year basis, impacted by low incidence of the disease.
Similarly, sales of drugs catering to pain management (0.9 per cent decline), gynaecology (0.4 per cent) and ophthalmology (0.2 per cent) also declined during the month. In contrast, the demand for anti-diabetes (15.6 per cent increase) and cardiovascular (8.0 per cent) drugs saw healthy growth in November.
nalinakanthi.v@thehindu.co.in