Image by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash
The U.S. pharmaceutical industry has fared better than most sectors in 2020, but the industry still faces tailwinds, according to recent IQVIA research.
Total prescription sales are down 2.1% year over year in the fourth quarter of 2020 to date, according to an analysis of the IQVIA data by the investment bank UBS. New prescriptions are down 0.6% in the same period. Brand-name drugs, however, are up 9.3%.
The research note from UBS said the proportion of generic drugs continues to decline. Generics, however, continue to make a sizable proportion — 77.5% — of domestic drug sales.
Overall, the pharmaceutical industry is better placed than most in weathering the COVID-19 crisis. A McKinsey report from June found pharmaceuticals to be trailing only the high-tech, consumer services and healthcare supplies and distribution sectors. The sector’s prospects will likely brighten as COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics hit the market. McKinsey projects that the industry could produce 1 billion vaccine doses by the end of the year and 9 billion by the end of 2021.
In terms of the overall pharmaceutical market, the United States continues to be strong, driving more than one-third of global sales.
One bright spot called out in the UBS report is total prescriptions within Johnson & Johnson’s immunology segment (NYSE:JNJ), currently up 21.1% year over year in the U.S.
Other companies faring well include the American-Israeli pharmaceutical company Teva (NYSE:TEVA). Total prescriptions sales of the firm’s Austedo drug for tardive dyskinesia and Huntington’s disease chorea are 19.5% higher year over year. Sales of Teva’s Ajovy product for treating migraines is up 25.8%.
Another strong performer is Mylan’s Tecfidera multiple sclerosis drug, with sales up 21.9%.
Filed Under: Neurological Disease
