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Study reveals rise in OTC sales of drugs

KOCHI: Higher medical professional charges coupled with excessive desire for self-medication and increasing faith in traditional medicines, India’s over the counter (OTC) drug sale has grown around 10 per cent in the last two years, leaving the U.S. and China much behind, where OTC drug sale is estimated at 4 per to 5 per cent respectively.

The above findings are arrived at the ASSOCHAM ‘s study on OTC drug sale pattern. The share of sale of OTC traditional drugs in India has gone up to 30 per cent. The maximum number of OTC drugs sold by qualified chemists and pharmacists are from the branded companies, the share of which is estimated at 8 per cent.

The main reason for the phenomenon is that common masses avoid consulting private medical practitioners because of their high professional fees. Secondly, the faith of most of the masses is increasingly reviving in traditional medicines which are easily available with druggists, pharmacists and even special retailers, including super markets and hyper markets. Thirdly, OTC drugs advertisements often appear in electronics and print because it is legally permitted which easily influence a large number of people to go in for them.

About two years ago, India’s OTC drugs market was close to around 6 per cent as against less than 2 per cent of the U.S. and around 3 per cent of China. The OTC drugs in India are quite common because the population of pharmacists and chemists have exceeded over 8.5 lakh. The OTC drugs sale would further get enhanced as their sales are now being permitted through retail outlets. At present, OTC drugs are sold off in larger percentage of over 37 in urban areas and their penetration in the rural market is around 10 per cent.

In India, the awareness on modern medicines has gone up, according to the study.

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