Sales for Antibiotic Rx declined significantly

Chronic disease treatment drugs fell sharply in April and May, but rebounded in June

Antibiotics and expectorants continued to decline from March to June

Factors such as a decrease in pediatric infection patients due to COVID-19

The prominent feature of the outpatient Rx drug market in the first half is that it was sluggish than in 2Q.

 

COVID-19 also had an impact.

 

When the fears of COVID-19 spread in February and March, the analysis revealed that patients had been receiving long-term prescriptions in advance and that prescription performance was poor.

 

The prescription market was sluggish in April and May, but began rebounding all in June.

 

The market for large-scale prescription drugs for chronic diseases showed a similar pattern.

 

However, prescriptions of antibiotics or expectorants, which are frequently used in the Department of Pediatrics and Adolescents, were significantly reduced.

 

According to UBIST on the 22nd, the Rx amount for the first half of Statins used to treat dyslipidemia was ₩497.4 billion, up 2.4% from the same period last year.

 

Statins prescriptions in the first quarter were ₩247.6 billion, a 3.0% increase over the previous year.

 

In the second quarter, it was ₩249.8 billion, up 1.9% from the same period last year.

 

The growth rate slowed somewhat in 2Q.

 

Rx amount of Statins in the second quarter decreased by 2.8% and 5.1%, respectively, in April and May.

 

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

 

Rx trend for major chronic dz by month (Unit: ₩ 100 million, Source: UBIST)

The most frequently used combination drug for hypertension, 'ARB+CCB', showed a prescription increase of 9.3% in the first half of the year to ₩398.7 billion.

 

The growth rate of 'ARB+CCB' was 10.0% in the first quarter, higher than 8.7% in the second quarter.

 

The prescription amount of the “ARB+CCB” was increased only 3.2% and 1.4%, respectively, in April and May, but rose by 22.6% in June.

 

In the industry, the RX drug market in April and May was temporarily sluggish due to the fear of COVID-19 in the first quarter, and from June, it seems that outdoor activity has been revitalized and the growth rate has been restored.

 

The Rx drug market seems to have recovered since the spread of COVID-19 patients began to stabilize in April, and the trend has changed after the end of social distance campaign, One of the drugs with the highest growth rate in recent years, the lipid-regulating drug combination increased by 24.0% in the first quarter, compared to the same period last year, but declined to 15.1% and 15.2%, respectively, in April and May.

 

However, in June, the prescription scale expanded 39.9% from the previous year.

 

Outpatient Rx amount for the first half of major chronic disease treatments (Unit: KRW 100 million, Source: UBIST)

The Rx amount of ARB in the first half was ₩198.4 billion, up 3.6% from the same period last year.

 

However, it decreased by 1.6% and 4.9% in April and May, respectively, and increased by 14.8% in June again.

 

DPP-4 and Metformin increased by 0.8% in April compared to last year and by 1.4% in May.

 

The growth rate was 18.3% in June.

 

The Rx amount of antibiotics continued to decrease.

 

The prescription performance in the first half of the year was ₩110.4 billion in the first half, down 16.6% from the previous year.

 

It decreased by 1.5% from the first half of last year, but the decline was even greater in one year.

 

Rx amount for oral Cephalosporins fell 1.3% in the first quarter of last year, while prescription declines in the second quarter reached 31.1%.

 

oral , the increase of Cephalosporin preparations was 8.0% and 9.3%, respectively in January and February.

 

It decreased by 20.6% from March of the previous year and decreased by 41.2% and 37.1% in April and May, respectively.

 

The oral prescription of Cephalosporins in June was down 10.5% from last year.

 

Rx amount for Oral Penicillins also increased by 7.0% and 2.9% in January and February, respectively, compared to the previous year, but decreased by 42.9% in March from April (-60.8%), May (-52.8%), and June (- 24.5%) all showed a significant decline.

 

Outpatient prescription amount (Unit: ₩100 million, Source: UBIST)

Unfortunately, since February, when COVID-19 began to spread in earnest, the Rx amount of antibiotics began to decrease suddenly.

 

It is analyzed that the decrease in antibiotic prescription is closely related to the decrease in the number of patients.

 

This is because after the spread of COVID-19, outdoor activities were limited and personal hygiene management, such as washing hands and wearing a mask, strengthened, and the incidence of infectious diseases such as cold decreased.

 

According to statistics recently released by UBCare, prescriptions for acute nasopharyngitis in April were 71% less than in the same period last year.

 

In April, the amount of prescriptions from Pediatrics decreased by 52% from the previous year, and the number of prescriptions dropped by 76%.

 

The size of prescription for expectorant which is frequently used in pediatric patients, has also decreased significantly.

 

The amount of prescription for expectorant in the first half was ₩71.7 billion, down 22.2% from the same period last year.

 

The amount of prescription was also 12.3% and 16.0% higher than the previous year in January and February, but in March (-26.2%), April (-52.2%), May (-49.9%), and June (- 24.7%) fell sharply.