The Covid-19 virus has proved to be quite deadly, and we are still dealing with its effects on health, economics and socialization. Still, we get to hear news of fresh covid-19 cases every day. The virus caught us off guard during the initial months of 2021, and covid-19 drugs were not discovered or available either.
At that time, the patients suffering from the deadly virus were prescribed to take medicines like Paracetamols and immunity-boosting drugs. This resulted in a double-digit CAGR of those commonly used drugs.
The medicines and drugs whose CAGR shot up
Paracetamol was described to almost every person suffering from Covid-19. Thus, it has witnessed a CAGR value of 21.4% between 2017-2021, as per data. Enoxaparin is a drug used for preventing blood clots and was highly used in the pandemic. It has hit a CAGR of 21.8% during that time.
Azithromycin is a common medicine for treating throat infections and was used for treating the Covid-19 patients right from the first wave in 2020 and has hit 18.1% growth in 2017-2021. Other medicines, such as multi-vitamins and minerals, witnessed traction as people started to consume them to boost immunity. They encountered a 17.9% growth. The data has been given in The Business Standard.
Some of the drugs used for chronic therapy, such as anti-hypertension and anti-diabetic medicines, are the highly used molecules in domestic markets. During the pandemic, drugs for acute therapy such as azithromycin and paracetamol witnessed high traction.
Demand and supply of medicines and drugs
A Mumbai-based firm’s senior pharmaceutical executive said to the Business Standard that productions of vitamins such as Vitamin C during the Covid-19 months were being stepped up and getting clocked out now and then.
Top brands such as Azithral, Dolo, and others were getting sold faster, but the demand was so high that even the lesser-known brands’ products were sold steeply.
The heightened sales volume of common drugs
The president of AIOCD Awacs, Sheetal Sapale, said to the journalists of Business Standard that in the last 2 years, brand launches took place, where attractive opportunities were there. According to the pharmaceutical industry, paracetamol has been a low-value drug. It was less than Rs 5 for each unit. It is the same reason because why it hit 20% CAGR, which indicates the huge volume of sales that took place during the pandemic period.
The drug firms of India have successfully maintained a strong run-rate of brand launches in the last decade. About 284-457 new brands have among the top drug firms in the Financial Year 2010-2020. Averagely, about 300 brands have been launched by popular drug firms each year. Also, it includes the extensions of these brands.
