Cardiac drug sales grow by double digits across India

AHMEDABAD: Higher incidence of cardiovascular diseases has pushed up sales of cardiac medicines across India. Cardiovascular drug sales have been clocking double digit growth every quarter in fiscal 2018-19 with the growth rate peaking at 14.8% in January to March period.
The double-digit growth has continued in 2019-20. The sales of cardiovascular medicines in April increased by 13.2% to Rs 1,492 crore, shows data compiled by AIOCD AWACS, a market research wing of All India Organization of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD).The overall sales stood at Rs 16,523 crore in fiscal 2018-19.
Experts believe the consistent increase in the sales of cardiac medicines is a clear reflection of rising incidence of cardiovascular diseases.

“Rapid urbanization has triggered an unhealthy lifestyle which includes lack of exercise as well as increased consumption of junk food. This has led to the rising incidence of cardiovascular diseases,” said Ameesh Masurekar, director, All India Organization of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD) – AWACS.
“Moreover, increasing incidence of these diseases is also a reflection of better diagnosis and higher degree of detection of cardiovascular diseases,” he added.An industry player said, “Maximum illness is detected in chronic segment due to lifestyle related problems. The demand of drugs for chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular issues is growing not only in India but across the world.”
“Roughly 30% of the total sales of drugs in Gujarat comes from cardiac medicines. While the incidence is growing, the number of molecules for cardiac drugs available in the market are also growing,” said Alpesh Patel, president, Federation of Gujarat State Chemists and Druggists Association (FGSCDA. Patel said, “Moreover, thanks to the Union government’s policies and promotion of generic medicines, cardiac medicines have also become more affordable and thus more accessible to a large number of patients.”