A recent report by data tracker IMS health found that:
· Generic drugs accounted for 75% of the U.S. prescription drug volume last year, up from 57% in 2004;
· 5.1 percent growth in 2009 U.S. sales of ethical pharmaceuticals and insulins through retail and non-retail channels, reaching $300.3 billion, compared with growth of 1.8 percent in 2008;
· The total number of generic prescriptions dispensed increased 5.9 percent in 2009, while the number of branded prescriptions dispensed declined 7.6 percent.
The Wall Street Journal however, noted that this increase in sales might be met with some potential limitations, and WSJ’s Heard on the Street cited key dangers for generic companies such as:
- New upstarts, which are boosting which generic competition;
- Branded giants like Pfizer gaining experience with generics; and
- Stepped-up product recalls making safety a greater concern.
Access for the first time to lower-cost generic treatment options in the areas of epilepsy, migraine, and immune system disorders had a more moderate impact on market growth than generic launches in previous years.
For branded pharmaceuticals “In 2009, demand for pharmaceuticals proved stronger than in the prior two years, yet remained at historically low levels,” said IMS’s Murray Aitken, senior vice president, Healthcare Insight. “While the 32 innovative products launched last year brought important new treatment options to patients in a number of disease areas, including cancer, thrombosis and atrial fibrillation, they drove only a limited increase in drug spending.
Stronger patient demand for prescription drugs throughout 2009, both for new therapy starts and refills, underscores the resilience of pharmacotherapies in today’s healthcare equation.”
Factors contributing to the U.S. market’s growth in 2009 include:
- Stronger demand for prescription drugs despite macroeconomic conditions. Dispensed prescription volume in retail channels grew at a 2.1 percent pace, to 3.9 billion dispensed prescriptions, up from 1.0 percent growth in 2008. Although the volume of new therapy starts in 17 major chronic disease areas declined by about 1 percent, the volume of add-on therapy starts, switches and refills rose by nearly 2 percent last year;
- Sustained pricing practices by pharmaceutical manufacturers, competing on the basis of clinical evidence and value;
- Inventory management actions taken by retail pharmacies at the beginning of 2009 to bring stocking levels in line with market demand;
- Greater use of specialty pharmaceuticals – a class of medications used to treat complex, chronic conditions – that now comprise 21 percent of U.S. market value and grew 7.5 percent last year; and
- The lower impact of patent expiries, as well as no significant product safety issues occurring during the year.
IMS identified the following key trends among the major therapy areas:
- Antipsychotics remained the top-selling class of medications in the U.S., with 2009 prescription sales of $14.6 billion, similar to the 2008 level.
- Lipid regulators continued as the largest therapy class in the U.S. by dispensed prescription volume, growing at a 4 percent pace to 211 million prescriptions dispensed in 2009. Sales of lipid regulators declined 1 percent last year to $14.3 billion, reflecting an ongoing shift toward lower-cost generic alternatives. Lipid regulators ranked #2 in overall sales in 2009.
- Proton pump inhibitors were the third-largest therapeutic class in sales last year. Proton pump inhibitors sales totaled $13.6 billion, a 1 percent decline year over year, while dispensed prescription volume for this therapeutic class rose 5 percent.
- Antidepressants became the fourth-largest class in 2009, up from its #5 ranking the prior year, with U.S. prescription sales growth of 4 percent to $9.9 billion.
- Sales of antineoplastic monoclonal antibodies, a leading oncology class that includes Avastin®, Rituxan® and Herceptin®, grew at a 9 percent pace in 2009 and ranked #6 in therapeutic class sales.
The market for prescription drugs has remained constant even in a down economy. The growing trend of greater use of generics will continue especially patent expirations for blockbusters such as Lipitor and Plavix. Clearly, since the use of generic drugs is growing, and likely will continue to grow, support for industry collaboration and innovation in research and development should also be allowed to grow because without industry, none of these generics would have been made possible in the first place.