11/19/2008 16h53
Sale of generic drugs increases 47% in the third quarter
Gazeta Mercantil 11/19/2008
The crisis seems to have had an inverse collateral effect in the generic drugs industry. In the third quarter of the year, while several sectors were struggling with finance problems, laboratories that manufacture this kind of medicine broke a sales record, involving US$ 588 million. The amount is 47% bigger than the one registered in the same period last year, when it reached US$ 401 million. In the accumulated of the year, between January and September, manufacturers had sales of US$ 1.5 billion, 15.4% above the same period of 2007, according to data of the IMS Health institute. The volume also grew substantially, going from 60.6 million of commercialized units between July and September of 2007 to 73.4 million in 2008, totaling a 21% high. YTD, the growth in units reached 17%. With this, generic drugs have expanded their share in the general medicines market, taking 17.7% of the total, the biggest participation since 2000, the beginning of their commercialization. In values this represented a leap from 13.5% to 14.3% in the size of the market share. According to the entity, another aspect that has been benefiting consumers by guaranteeing more attractive prices is the adoption of a system of tax distribution through some states of the Federation. This has allowed the industry to reduce the weight of the tax load on drugs, further improving the price. Studies of the Pró Genéricos institute indicate that since its arrival in the Brazilian market in 2000, the category of medicines has resulted in an economy of R$ 9.6 billion (US$ 4.4 billion) to Brazilian consumers. The entity also believes that the medicine has already gained the confidence of part of the Medical segment, which has already included five generic drugs in the list of the most prescribed products in the Country.
