A study of the annual retail sales of the top ten brands of Indian pharma industry for the 12-month period ending August 2002 has revealed that the top two brands are in the kitty of Pfizer (India) Ltd.

Corex, which has annual sales of Rs 87.46 crore, and Becosules, which raked in Rs 83.29 crore, both belong to the global number one company. Corex is sold nowhere in the world except India.

However, the highest growth rates have been shown by Dr Reddy''s Laboratories Ltd''s Nise with 26.3 per cent and Cifran of Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd with 15.4 per cent. While Corex has registered a growth rate of 11.9 per cent, Becosules has grown by 7.1 per cent.

Voveran, the sodium diclofenac painkiller brand of Novartis India Ltd, takes the third slot with sales of Rs 75.08 crore and a growth of 4.5 per cent. Althrocin, the erythromycin estolate brand of Alembic Ltd, has sales of Rs 72.84 crore and a growth of 9.4 per cent, and comes fourth.

Alkem Laboratories Ltd''s star brand Taxim (cefotaxime sodium) has recorded a business of Rs 68.60 crore and a growth of 11.8 per cent to come fifth in the ranking. The cephalexin brand Sporidex of Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd has sales of Rs 67.16 crore and a growth of 4.4 per cent. It comes sixth in the ranking.

Cifran, the top brand of RLL and a ciprofloxacin formulation, has clocked sales of Rs 67.14 crore and a growth of 15.4 per cent. Cifran takes the seventh slot. Betnesol of GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Ltd, which has done a business of Rs 64.47 crore and a growth of 10.1 per cent, stands eighth in the ranking.

Liv.52, introduced in 1955 as a specially formulated remedy for the treatment of viral hepatitis by Himalaya Drug Company, comes ninth in the ranking with sales of Rs 61.99 crore and a growth of 2.8 per cent.

The nimesulide brand of Dr Reddy''s Laboratories Ltd, Nise, takes the tenth slot with sales of Rs 60.58 crore and a growth of 26.3 per cent.