Milestones
20 YEARS OF DISCOVERY
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) has marked the 20th anniversary of the Discoverers Award, the highest honor given by PhRMA to scientists who helped discover breakthrough medicines for patients suffering from disease. PhRMA presented the Discoverers Award to three then SmithKline Beecham — a GlaxoSmithKline heritage company — scientists who helped research and develop the prescription drug Coreg. In addition, PhRMA presented the Clinical Trial Exceptional Service Award to the three physicians who were instrumental in the clinicaltrial process for Coreg, as well as to Lacey Angioletti who, as a then 21year old patient, participated in the clinical trials that were critical to the development of this lifesaving treatment. # MACHINERY MILESTONE Founded in 1983, Uhlmann Packaging Systems LP is celebrating 25 years of service to the North American pharmaceutical industry. With products that include blister machines, cartoning systems, linemonitoring and control systems, and downstream packaging machinery, Uhlmann provides sales support, service technicians, onsite training, parts inventory, tool manufacturing and rebuilt machinery, and onsite engineering for line integrations. # A QUARTER CENTURY OF SERVICE SK&A is celebrating its 25th anniversary as a provider of healthcare information solutions and research. SK&A researches, formats, and maintains contact and profiling information for more than 2 million healthcare providers, including 830,000 prescribers. If your company or organization is celebrating a major anniversary, please send your information to: [email protected], subject line Milestones. SOURCE:IMSHEALTH,NORWALK,CONN. FALLING SALES U.S. Prescription Sales: $286.5 Billion IMS Health reports that overall sales growth in the U.S. prescription market moderated at 3.8% in 2007, compared with growth of more than 8% in 2006. Total U.S. prescription sales in 2007 were $286.5 billion. IMS analysts attribute the slowdown in sales growth to the loss of exclusivity of branded medicines representing $17 billion in sales in 2008; the fewest new product approvals, which resulted in the fewest new drug launches in 30 years; the leveling of yearoveryear growth from the Medicare Part D program; and the impact of safety issues, including a significant number of “black box” warnings and product withdrawals, as well as safety concerns raised by the FDA for products in the erythropoietins, diabetes and antidepressant therapy classes. Total U.S. dispensed prescription volume grew 2.8% compared with 4.6% in 2006. Overall, the top five therapeutic categories in terms of prescriptions in 2007 were: antidepressants, lipid regulators, codeine and combination pain medications, ace inhibitors, and beta blockers. “In 2007, the U.S. pharmaceutical market experienced its lowest growth rate since 1961,” says Murray Aitken, senior VP, healthcare insight, IMS. “The moderating growth trend that began in 2001 resumed last year following the onetime impact on market growth in 2006 from the implementation of Medicare Part D. Last year, we saw a continuing shift away from primarycare classes to biotech and specialistdriven therapies, which grew at a 9% and 10% pace, respectively. Among the leading therapy classes, oncology drugs continued their rapid growth, at 14%, the result of innovative new medicines, expanded indications and accelerated uptake of products to fill unmet needs.” With prescription sales of $18.4 billion, lipid regulators continued to be the largest therapy class in the United States, despite a 15.4% yearoveryear sales decline. Proton pump inhibitors ranked second, with prescription sales of $14.1 billion and growth of 2.8%. Antipsychotics replaced antidepressants as the thirdlargest therapeutic class in 2007, with prescription sales growth of 12.1% to $13.1 billion. SEARCH ENGINE TERMS Top 5 in Q4 “While medical professionals can access much of the same information offline, they are choosing to leverage technology to access medical literature in a more convenient and timely manner,”says Cyndy Finnie, senior product manager for SearchMedica.“Many factors can motivate medical professionals to conduct a search, including the desire to stay informed about new developments or learn more about high profile topics.” THETOP FIVE Q4GENERALMEDICINERELATED SEARCHES BY MEDICAL PROFESSIONALSWERE: 1. Hypertension 2. Osteoporosis 3. Diabetes 4. MRSA 5.Hypothyroidism 2007TOPTHERAPEUTIC CLASSES BYU.S.SALES 2007Total Dollars Rank Therapeutic Class (U.S. billions) 1 Lipid regulators $18.4 2 Proton pump inhibitors $14.1 3 Antipsychotics $13.1 4 Antidepressants $11.9 5 Seizure disorders $10.2 6 Erythropoietins $8.6 7 Antineomonoclonal antibiotics $6.8 8 Angiotensin II antagonists $6.6 9 Antiarthritis, biological response modifiers $5.3 10 Bisphosphonates $4.6 Total Sales $286.5 Source: IMS Health, Norwalk,Conn. SOURCE:SEARCHMEDICA.COM,NEWYORK. 0408 Layout FINAL MW 3/21/08 11:42 AM Page 8