Mumbai : The Indian pharmaceutical market recorded a healthy quarterly growth rate of 18.9% for the quarter ending Nov. 2010. Per PharmaTrac, the market-leading sales audit provided by AIOCD AWACS, drug price inflation accounted for almost a third of this at 5.4%. Drug price inflation is up from 3.1% in the quarter ending Nov. 2009 to 5.4% in the quarter ending Nov. 2010.

Total volume growth was 13.6%. New products launched within the last 2 years contributed to 7.1% of the growth while volume growth of existing products was 6.5%. New products mainly included new brands in existing molecules, which accounted for 6.7% volume growth. New molecules and combinations accounted for just 0.4% volume growth.

Out of approximately 1,676 molecules and combinations in the industry, 142 had constant prices (+/-1%), 1,153 had increases in price, and 381 had reductions in price. Of this last category, 72% of the products were in DPCO (Drug Price Control Order) including vitamin B complex, anti-diabetic Glipizide, anti-TB drug Rifampicin, etc. This underscores the pivotal role played by NPPA in ensuring that the benefits of lower raw material costs in these categories are passed on to consumers.

Of the 1,153 molecules that had price increases, competition helped ensure a moderate increase in price, thanks to the growth of low-cost brands. Hospital products, contraceptives, and anti-cancer drugs were categories where there were several examples of price increases over 15%. There were also certain drugs that showed runaway price increases, including anti-malarial drug Artesunate (31% price increase), anti-hypertensive Olmesartan+HCTZ (31% price increase) and Levothyroxine (34% price increase).

To summarize, compared to the identical quarter last year, drug price inflation increased to 5.4% from 3.1%. However competition and NPPA have ensured that there is no runaway growth in prices across the industry. One can safely conclude that inflation in medicine is much lower than in most other necessities.