Drug Sales Rise In Top Markets

US sales were $29 billion, a rise of 7 per cent on the first half of 1995. Growth was driven by blood agents, which include a new class of drugs designed to cut cholesterol levels, and by nervous system drugs, which include Prozac, the anti-depressant made by the US company Eli Lilly.

Sales in Japan grew only one per cent, at constant exchange rates, to $11.5 billion.

Respiratory drugs and anti-infectives have been hit hardest by the low demand to treat flu. Sales fell 10 per cent to $981 million and 18 per cent to $1.34 billion respectively.

Italy was the fastest growing of the large European countries, with sales up 12 per cent to $4.5 billion. But the rise is partly a rebound from two years of slow or negative growth as the Italian government implemented a series of cost-control measures in healthcare.

The UK was the second fastest growing, with sales up 10 per cent to $3.23 billion. The star performer was the blood agent category, where sales grew 44 per cent to $79 million. But the UK remains a small market in value terms by comparison with Germany and France, where traditionally doctors have prescribed more drugs.

German sales rose 6 per cent to $8.45 billion, while sales in France rose 5 per cent to $7.57 billion. By medical area, heart drugs remain the biggest category, with sales up 4 per cent to $12.34 billion. The relatively slow growth is the result of heavy competition as older drugs lose patent protection, allowing other companies to make them.