IMS reveals US prescription sales down by 3.8%

According to the report released by IMS, the total US prescription sales reached $286.5 billion, with slower sales growth resulting from loss of exclusivity of branded medicines, fewer new product approvals, the levelling of year-over-year growth from the Medicare Part D program, and the impact of safety issues.

The total US dispensed prescription volume grew at a 2.8% pace compared with 4.6% in 2006. Antidepressants ranked as the leading therapy class by dispensed prescription volume in 2007. Overall, the top five therapeutic categories — antidepressants, lipid regulators, codeine & combination pain medications, ace inhibitors and beta blockers — continued to lead the market in terms of prescription utilization.

With prescription sales of $18.4 billion, lipid regulators continued to be the largest therapy class in the US, despite a 15.4% year-over-year sales decline. Proton pump inhibitors ranked second, with prescription sales of $14.1 billion and growth of 2.8% and oncology drugs continued their rapid growth at 14%. Antipsychotics replaced antidepressants as the third-largest therapeutic class in 2007, with prescription sales growth of 12.1% to $13.1 billion.

The report also revealed that an additional $13 billion in branded products are likely to be exposed to generics in 2008. In the US, IMS forecasts compound annual pharmaceutical sales growth through 2012 of 3 to 6%.

Murray Aitken, senior vice president, Healthcare Insight, said: “The US pharmaceutical market has entered a new era — one characterized by more modest growth due to the continuing impact of new generics products, fewer and more narrowly indicated novel medications, and closer scrutiny of safety issues.”