Big pharma continuing to dominate top-selling drugs market, says IMS

The only $1 billion-selling drug product to be made by a company outsidethe world's top 20 corporations is Mundi International's painkiller OxyContin (oxycondone), and the only drug with sales nearing $1 billion a year made by a non-top 20 corporation is Forest/Lundbeck's antidepressant Celexa (citalopram), according to IMS Health.

Moreover, of the 50 top-selling drugs worldwide last year, only OxyContin was produced by a non-top 20 corporation, Carl Fearn, sales director, global services at IMS Health, told a recent meeting in London, UK. All top 50 products reported sales over $800 million last year, and the leading five were: AstraZeneca's Losec (omeprazole), rising 6%; Pfizer's Lipitor (atorvastatin), with sales up 40% and which has since taken over the world's top spot in the first six months of 2001; Merck & Co's Zocor (simvastatin), up 13%; Pfizer's Norvasc (amlodipine), up 13%; and Abbott/Takeda's Ogastro (lansoprazole), rising 33%.

Sales of 41 of the top 50 drugs continued to rise last year, led by 363% growth for Merck & Co's COX-2 inhibitor Vioxx (rofecoxib), and only nine fell, said Mr Fearn. The fastest-growers were: Takeda/Lilly's Actos (pioglitazone), up 999%; GlaxoSmithKline's Avandia (rosiglitazone), +433%; Merck & Co's Vioxx, +363%; Lundbeck's Celexa, +99%; Mundi's OxyContin, +75% and AHP's Enbrel (Etanercept), up 7%.