AHMEDABAD: Gujarat's pharmaceuticals market showed an impressive growth of 19% in its monthly turnover over a two year period. In the 24-month period from June 2022 to May 2024, the monthly sale of drugs rose from Rs 550 crore to Rs 652 crore in the state, according to data by Pharmarack. Surpassing the state average, six therapies posted above 20% rise in sales during this period, mainly driven by two factors - greater detection as well as notorious habit of self-medication by patients.
These include respiratory (34%), neuro/CNS (25%), pain (23%), derma (23%), cardiac (22%) and anti-infectives (21%). While experts attribute the rise in cardiac therapy sales primarily due to higher detection and also rising number of incidences, there is also a marked rise in categories like anti-infectives and respiratory ailments.
Putting the numbers in perspective, Alpesh Patel, chairman, Federation of Gujarat State Chemists and Druggists' Association, said, "Cardiac and neuro/ CNS are therapies where awareness has played a huge role in improved detections. When we saw a sharp increase in the number of cardiac arrest-triggered deaths last year across age groups, people became aware and a majority in the age-group of 30-45 years who seldom got themselves tested have now begun getting screened. This has consequently led to rise in detection."
'Awareness on mental health propelled sale of neuro drugs' Alpesh Patel adds, "Similarly, stress levels are phenomenally increasing, and this has resulted in a rise in prescriptions for neuro/CNS drugs which predominantly include antidepressants, sleep medication as well as serotonin supplements. More awareness on mental health also further propelled this change."
Meanwhile, the trend of self-medication has also picked up significantly. "The rising influx of online consultation platforms and increasing misuse of information available online has led to reckless self-medication habits among people. This is not just true for pain medication or analgesics but also for antibiotics and medicines for respiratory ailments. A classic case is azithromycin which has been used without consulting doctors since the Covid-19 pandemic," Patel further explained.
Dr Rushikesh Shah, internal medicines specialist at Zydus Hospital, said that compared to past couple of years, there was an uptick in influenza and swine flu cases. "It can explain the higher intake of medicines related to respiratory illnesses and anti-infectives," he said. "About painkillers and analgesics, I believe it could be mostly over-the-counter (OTC) medication by the patients themselves instead of a rise in prescriptions by medical practitioners."
Dr Pragnesh Vachcharajani, secretary of Federation of Family Physicians' Association of India, said that the trend can be seen from two aspects. "The first aspect is better health awareness among citizens post-Covid - the signs and symptoms are identified faster now, and there is surely a rise in OPDs when it comes to issues such as respiratory illnesses. We have seen it in fever and dengue cases in 2024 when the weather was erratic. We saw a relatively warmer winter and relatively colder initial months of summer, which gave rise to infections," he said, adding that the first few months of the year recorded a high number of events, prompting more mingling of citizens.
"Another aspect is a longer spell of upper respiratory tract infection seen this year which could have resulted in higher sales," said Dr Vachcharajani.
Spike in allergy cases due to seasonal change and prolonged period of flu cases coincided with the requirement for respiratory illnesses-related medicines, said Dr Tushar Patel, a city-based pulmonologist and president of Ahmedabad Medical Association (AMA). "Rise in pollution and allergens over the past couple of years can surely be seen as prominent factors for rise in respiratory illnesses, specifically upper respiratory tract infection. We have also advised those in senior citizen age group to go for flu vaccines to prevent complications," he said.
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