Pharma market marks positive volume growth, fastest value growth in 13 months
Chennai: Pharma sales volume growth turned positive in November after negative growth in the past four months. Apart from volumes, price growth and new launches helped pharma sales value grow close to 10 per cent in the month, which was the fastest pace in 13 months.
In November, the pharma market recorded a volume growth of 1.8 per cent after declining close to 2 per cent for four months. In May 2024, the volume growth was down by around 3 per cent. The market saw an average negative growth of 1.1 per cent over the past 12 months. During January to November 2024, the market had reported average value growth of 7.7 per cent y-o-y with average volume growth at negative 0.7 per cent.
In November, the pharma market in value terms delivered higher growth at 9.9 per cent against 2.9 per cent in November 2023. At 9.9 per cent, November saw the highest growth in the past 13 months. In October 2023, the market had grown at 14.1 per cent.
This is higher than the average growth of 6 per cent during July to October 2024. This was mainly on account of 5.4 per cent price growth and 2.7 per cent growth in new launches, finds India Ratings.
Key therapies such as cardiac grew 11.7 per cent, gastro 11 per cent, anti-diabetic 10.1 per cent, and derma 15.8 per cent outperformed the pharma growth. Both the acute and chronic segments have seen increased demand across key therapies.
According to healthcare intelligence provider IQVIA, November saw the addition of 746 new stock-keeping units (SKUs), highlighting the market's emphasis on innovation and addressing unmet patient needs. Dynamic pricing strategies were evident, with 3,024 SKUs undergoing Price to Retailer (PTR) changes. Prominent brands like Foracort, Duolin, and Betadine featured among those reflecting price revisions.
Significant brand transfers also took place, with 248 products transitioning from Bharat Serum to Mankind and 62 brands moving from Jupiter to Jupiter Biolabs, signaling strategic shifts within the competitive landscape.
Sun Pharma maintained its leadership position in the market with an 8 per cent share, while Cipla and Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories strengthened their foothold with month-on-month market share gains. Multinational corporations such as Pfizer and Sanofi also climbed the rankings. Indian pharmaceutical companies outpaced their multinational counterparts in growth, registering a 10.8 per cent increase compared to the MNCs' 10.2 per cent.
Ind-Ra expects the pharma market growth to be at 8-9 per cent for FY25,” says Vivek Jain, Director, Corporate Ratings, Ind-Ra.
