Companies are worried about a sharp decline in Rx drug sales

Outpatient prescription scale continues to increase in June and July

Concerns about contraction in the prescription drug market due to the rapid increase in COVID-19 confirmed patients

Pharmaceutical companies are again tense with COVID-19.

 

The prescription drug market suffered a temporary sluggishness due to the aftermath of COVID-19, and while it is recovering, the market has contracted again and is worried.

 

Business activities can be greatly affected by the spread of telecommuting.

 

According to UBIST on the 19th, the total amount of outpatient prescriptions last month was ₩1.292 trillion, an increase of 1.8% from the same period last year.

 

Compared to the 8.2% increase in the prescription price in July last year from 2018, the growth rate has slowed somewhat, but it has continued to rise for two consecutive months following June.

 

Monthly outpatient Rx amount trend (Unit: ₩100 million, Source: UBIST)

In June, the prescription amount was ₩1.286 billion, an increase of 11.7% from the same period last year, recording a sharp growth trend.

 

Starting this year, the prescription drug market has been showing great ups and downs, continuing its jagged pace.

 

In January, prescription amount decreased by 4.4% from the previous year, but in February they increased by 13.0%.

 

As the Lunar New Year holidays this year was pulled to January, which is earlier than the previous year, it is analyzed that the rate of increase or decrease in the prescription amount in January and February showed a deviation according to the increase or decrease in the number of business days.

 

Prescription performance in April and May fell 8.7% and 9.4%, respectively, compared to the previous year, showing extreme sluggishness.

 

However, in June, it recorded a large growth trend, and it was observed that COVID-19 generally did not show a significant effect in the prescription drug market.

 

The industry believes that the slowdown in the prescription drug market in April and May was the impact of COVID-19.

 

It is analyzed that a considerable prescription gap occurred in the second quarter as patients with chronic illnesses, who are reluctant to visit medical institutions, were prescribed a large amount of necessary medicines in advance.

 

In fact, when the number of COVID-19 patients surged, it is known that the number of cases receiving prescriptions for 3 to 6 months in advance increased significantly.

 

Monthly outpatient Rx amount increase/decrease from the same period last year (Unit: %, Source: UBIST)

In fact, there was a common trend in which the prescriptions for chronic diseases decreased significantly in April and May and then increased rapidly in June.

 

The prescription amount of statin drugs used in the treatment of dyslipidemia decreased 2.8% and 5.1% in April and May, respectively, compared to the same period last year.

 

But in June, it jumped 14.9% from last year.

 

The prescription performance of the “ARB+CCB” combination drug, which is most commonly used among hypertension treatments, increased 3.2% and 1.4%, respectively, from the same period last year in April and May, but rose a whopping 22.6% in June.

 

It is also observed that the number of visits to hospitals itself may have decreased as the incidence of disease among infants and children has decreased due to factors such as delaying school opening, social distancing, and strengthening personal quarantine.

 

Prescription performance of oral Cephalosporins in the first half was ₩110.4 billion, down 16.6% from the previous year.

 

In the first half of last year, it decreased by 1.5% from the previous year, but the decline was even more pronounced after a year.

 

Prescriptions of oral PCNs in January and February increased by 7.0% and 2.9%, respectively, compared to the previous year, but decreased by 42.9% from last year in March, and in April (-60.8%), May (-52.8%), 6 All months (-24.5%) showed a sharp decline.

 

As the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases rapidly increases, pharmaceutical companies are again tense.

 

COVID-19 confirmed patients by city (Unit: persons, Source: the KCDC)

According to the KCDC, 297 new cases of COVID-19 occurred compared to the previous day as of 0:00 on the 19th.

 

Since 103 confirmed cases on the 14th, more than 100 new cases have occurred for 6 consecutive days.

 

On this day, 283 out of 297 new confirmed cases are infected locally, and the number of confirmed cases is increasing rapidly in Seoul and other metropolitan areas.

 

Since most pharmaceutical companies are headquartered in Seoul, there is no choice but to be more tense than when the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases surged in Daegu and Gyeongbuk.

 

Many companies have started working from home.

 

Core personnel are also banned from entering factories or research centers, which could be severely affected when COVID-19 confirmed case occurs.

 

This is because major damage is inevitable if the laboratories and factory workers are confirmed for COVID-19 and are closed for a certain period of time.

 

Pharmaceutical companies are also concerned about a decline in sales activity.

 

It is a difficult condition for active sales in a situation where they are reluctant to visit a salesperson centering on clinics.

 

If there is a confirmed case among the sales staff of a pharmaceutical company, the affiliated company cannot avoid accusations of promoting the spread of the virus.

 

This is because even though there is a possibility of being a super propagator, if the spread of new coronas is socially promoted by visiting dozens of medical institutions, it cannot be good for the company.

 

An official from a pharmaceutical company said, "Recently, there are many confirmed patients with COVID-19 and the market is intensively occurring in the metropolitan area, so we have a lot of worries about our sales strategy." "It's time to find a variety of strategies so that there are no disruptions in our activities."