Generic drug retail sales grow 30% during first half of 1995; hospital market is sluggish.

Executive Summary

GENERIC DRUG RETAIL SALES GROWTH OF 30% IN FIRST HALF OF 1995 compares with 50% in 1994, according to data presented by IMS International Senior VP Stephen Chappell at a Nov. 9-10 pharmaceutical conference sponsored by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass. The decrease is "not surprising" and "should not be viewed as an enormous slow-down in the generic market," Chappell remarked. He noted that the 1994 figures for the generics industry reflect the impact of a series of branded products going off patent in 1993 and 1994. In 1993, generic sales increased by 25%, Chappell noted.