Domestic pharmaceutical market grows over 13% in July

MUMBAI: The domestic pharmaceutical retail market estimated at Rs 6883 crore for July, reported a growth of 13.5%, according to research firm, IMS.

After a rather subdued first half, the market seems to be reviving in the second half of the year. The upsurge during the month is in line with expectations, as July had a robust monsoon resulting in a strong growth of 14.6% in the acute segment. The chronic segment continued its double digit growth at 10.7%.

Improvement in macro factors ( forecasts of favourable monsoon, clarity on pricing policy) should result into progressive improvement in the pharma market, and thus into a growth between 11-13% in the FY 2013, as forecast in the IMS market prognosis report.

For the period MAT (moving annual total) July 2013, the pharmaceutical market was valued at Rs 75,542 crore, with a growth of 10.8%, over the same period last year.

The big challenge which remains is the implementation of DPCO 2013. While bigger pharma companies would take the major brunt of the erosion due to those drugs under the NLEM, they would be able to mitigate some of the drop by higher volumes, due to greater market reach and brand value, according to IMS.