IPSEN's PERIPHERAL VASODILATOR TANAKAN WAS LARGEST RETAIL Rx
Executive Summary
IPSEN's PERIPHERAL VASODILATOR TANAKAN WAS LARGEST RETAIL Rx drug in France during 1984, with sales of $53 mil. (FF 465 mil.), according to IMS data presented May 7 at a meeting of the Internatl. Pharmaceutical Marketing Research Group in Boston. The drug posted an increase of 15% (in francs) over 1983. The IMS data was presented by Werner David and H. Bruguiere of the market research firm. With 1984 sales of over 3 bil. francs ($349 mil.), peripheral vasodilators are the largest therapeutic class in France. Three of the top five drugs, according to IMS, are in the category. The third largest product is Specia's (Rhone Poulenc) Sermion, with 1984 volume of FF 373 mil. ($43 mil.), immediately followed by Observal's Praxilene with 1984 sales of FF 349 mil. ($40 mil.). SmithKline Beckman's Tagamet was the second leading retail drug in France with FF 375 mil. ($43 mil.) last year. Rounding out the top ten drugs in France are Geigy's Voltarene (FF 238 mil. $27 mil.); Searle's Aldactazine (FF 231, $27 mil.); Merck-Chibret's Aldomet (FF 223 mil., $26 mil.); and Fournier Dijon's Lipanthyl (FF 217, $25 mil.). The fastest growing products among the top 20 were Squibb's Lopril (captopril), which jumped 434% to FF 159 mil. ($18 mil.), Dausse's Tildiem (diltiazem), up 45% to FF 184 mil. ($21 mil), and Voltarene (diclofenac), up 21%. In his presentation, David reported that the two nationalized firms, Rhone-Poulenc and Sanofi accounted for 16% of the FF 31 bil. ($3.6 bil.) French Rx retail market in 1984, with sales of FF 22.5 bil. ($291 mil.) and FF 2.5 bil. ($284 mil.), respectively. Overall, French firms accounted for 52% of the market, while U.S. companies had 20% and German firms 10.9%.