The drug sales through retail pharmacies in the world have grown by 5 per cent in the year 2006 accounting for US dollar 388.28 billion. Major 13 world markets including USA, Canada, Europe, Japan and some Latin American countries were covered under the survey, which has also found Lipitor the best selling drug during this period. Interestingly, India was excluded from the purview of the survey.

According to a survey conducted by IMS Health, the global healthcare information company, the drug sales through retail pharmacies in the 13 key markets have reported a 5 per cent growth in the 12 month period from December 2005 through to December 2006, closing at US$388.28 billion.

The 13 markets that came under the survey were USA, Canada, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Spain, Japan, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand. These 13 countries account for over two thirds of the world market.

The best selling drug for the 12 months ending December 2006 was Lipitor, worth over $11.70 billion, with a decreased growth at 3.6 per cent. Nexium still has the largest growth at the top with 15.5 per cent. The top five drugs in the year to December 2006 are Lipitor, Nexium, Seretide, Plavix and Norvasc.

The top five corporations in the year to December 2006, which remained the same as the last year's survey are Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Norvartis, AstraZeneca and Merck & Co.

Retail pharmacy sales for these key markets had a 5 per cent growth at constant exchange to December 2006. Sales in the top five European markets showed a 3 per cent constant exchange growth. North America posted a 7 per cent sales growth at $211.52 billion in sales in the 12 months to December. The key therapy growth areas for North America was the cytostatics group with a 9 per cent growth at constant exchange.

Japan's overall growth at constant exchange was -1 per cent, with a market worth $56.67 billion in the 12 months to December 2006, a slight decrease since our last survey. By therapeutic category the key growth area was in the cytostatics categories, with sales growth at constant exchange of 13 per cent.

The single largest therapeutic sub category in dollar sales continues to be the C10, hypolipidemia, class selling $30.50 billion with a growth of 8 per cent in the 12 months to December 2006. The second biggest group is the N6, psychoanaleptics, class at $19.97 billion with a 6 per cent growth.