GLOBAL SALES OF H2 BLOCKERS TO DECLINE?

The antiulcerant drug market is set for radical changes over the next five years, largely as a result of the increasing driving force of the proton pump inhibitors such as Astra's Losec (omeprazole).

A new report from Lehman Brothers says that sales of H2 antagonist drugs, which have dominated this market over the last few years, will decline from a 1992 level of $6 billion to $5 billion by 1997. This represents an annual rate of decline of 3%, and reverses the recent 10% per annum growth rate. The leading drug in this sector is Glaxo's Zantac (ranitidine).

Contributing to this decline will be the loss of patent cover in the USA for another of the major players in this market, SmithKline Beecham's Tagamet (cimetidine) in May 1994, general pricing pressures from governments and other health care payers, competition from Losec and other proton pump inhibitors, and the increasing use of Helicobacter pylori eradication strategies to treat ulcers and gastritis.