As monsoon sets in, respiratory, malaria drugs see demand rise

New Delhi: The onset of monsoon boosted sales of drugs for respiratory, anti-infective, anti-malaria and gastrointestinal therapies in June.

According to market researcher Pharmarack, these therapies saw a double-digit growth last month compared to June 2023.

"Among the top therapies, anti-infectives and respiratory have shown a relatively stronger volume growth for the month of June," said Sheetal Sapale, VP, commercial at Pharmarack.

Industry data showed sales of respiratory drugs clocked 19.2% growth by value compared to a year earlier while anti-infectives and gastrointestinal drugs saw an uptick of 17.2% and 10.7%, respectively. Both anti-infective and gastrointestinal therapies showed robust increase last month compared to a year earlier and June 2022, while respiratory therapy is following a natural seasonal trend, the data showed.

Anti-infectives recorded ₹25,651 crore in moving annual turnover (MAT) in the last 12 months, followed by gastrointestinal drugs at ₹23,594 crore.

Pointing to an increased number of pollen allergy cases last month, Sapale said this spurred demand for anti-allergic medicines along with antihistamines, nasal decongestants and antitussive preparations. "Drugs used in treatment of viral infections, fevers, and vector-borne diseases along with drugs used for treating general weakness and body ache also performed well in June," she added.

Overall, the Indian pharmaceutical market (IPM) grew 8.8% last month. Companies like Sun Pharmaceuticals, Mankind, Cipla, Torrent, Intas, Alkem, Macleods, Aristo, GSK, USV, Glenmark and Micro outperformed the market.