>PHARMACEUTICAL SECTOR: Focusing on gastrointestinal

Summary: In this report, we provide detailed sales trends for the top 10 companies and the top 10 therapy areas in the Indian pharmaceutical market. We also include data for Dr Reddy’s (DRRD IN, BUY) and Glenmark (GNP, BUY), which do not figure among the top 10 companies but are part of our coverage universe.

Among the top 20 companies, in May 2010, Mankind, Sanofi Aventis and Intas continued to grow faster than the market. On the other hand, the notable laggards were Piramal Healthcare, Wockhardt and Alembic.

■ Focus of the month — gastrointestinal
The gastrointestinal segment, with MAT sales of INR46.8bn (market share of 10.9%), is the third largest segment in the Indian pharmaceutical market. The segment is growing at 19.7% y-y, in line with a market growth rate of 19.6% (May 2010 MAT).

The key players within the gastrointestinal segment include Cadila Healthcare (market share 5.6%), Dr Reddy’s (market share 4.9%) and Alkem (market share 4.4%). However, the trio of Piramal Healthcare-Abbott-Solvay together command a market share of 9.2%. Within the segment, antipeptic ulcerants contribute 35% of the segment’s sales on a MAT basis and this is growing at 21.8%, higher than the segment's growth. The key growth driver for the segment is sales volume. On a May 2010 MAT basis, the segment’s volume growth contribution was 62%, while new products contributed 29%. In comparison, for the Indian pharmaceutical market, volume growth contribution was 58%, while new products contributed 38%.

Key brands within the gastrointestinal segment are Zinetac (Glaxosmithkline, MAT sales INR970mn), Omez (Dr. Reddy’s, MAT sales INR917mn) and Spasmo-Proxyvon (Wockhardt, MAT sales INR915mn). Brand concentration is relatively high in this category. The top 5 brands in the segment contributed 9.7% of sales, while the top 5 brands for the Indian pharmaceutical market contributed 2.3%.

To read the full report: PHARMACEUTICAL SECTOR