Content about IMS Health

As of the beginning of February, the cough-cold season had yet to materialize and illness levels were only just beginning to climb. If that’s the case, then an expected illness peak in late February/early March would make the 2011-2012 cough, cold and flu season one of the later-peaking seasons in recent years.


As of Jan. 21, overall incidence of upper respiratory illness this season was down 7.5% according to IMS Health, as compared with the 2010-2011 season.


A wet spring last year made for ideal allergen-
creating conditions heading into summer 2011 — the growth of ragweed and an increase in mold. According to a Quest Diagnostics study published in 2011, sensitization to common ragweed has grown 15% nationally since 2000, while mold grew 12%. IMS Health projected a strong spring allergy season, especially across the north and northeast.


If the patent cliff were a sports team, Pfizer’s cholesterol-
lowering drug Lipitor (atorvastatin) would be its mascot. Because it’s the top-selling drug, well, ever — with 2010 sales well in excess of $7 billion in the United States alone — Lipitor’s loss of patent protection on Nov. 30, 2011, didn’t start or end the patent cliff but in many ways symbolized it.


WHAT IT MEANS AND WHY IT'S IMPORTANT — With annual sales gaining on the $8 billion mark in the United States alone, according to IMS Health, Lipitor (atorvastatin) is the top-selling drug in the world, and the price markdown that Ranbaxy Labs’ launch (and subsequent generic launches) will bring, greatly will expand its accessibility. So it’s no surprise that it has attracted so much media attention over the past few weeks.

In the classic “Arabian Nights” tale of Aladdin and his magic lamp, the evil sorcerer who made Aladdin retrieve the lamp containing the genie attempts to get it back by tricking Aladdin’s wife into giving it to him by roaming through the streets offering to trade “new lamps for old.”


JERUSALEM — The Federal Trade Commission has given Teva Pharmaceutical Industries the green light to acquire Frazer, Pa.-based drug maker Cephalon, but with some restrictions, Teva said.

Before it can complete the $6.8 billion deal, Teva must sell to Par Pharmaceutical Cos. its generic versions of two Cephalon drugs, namely generic versions of the cancer pain drug Actiq (fentanyl citrate) and the muscle relaxant drug Amrix (cyclobenzaprine), which have combined sales of $298 million per year, according to IMS Health.

It’s hard to disagree that generic drug companies have had a good run for the last several years. Branded drug companies developed a large number of drugs that proved highly effective at treating widespread medical conditions and became blockbusters, garnering billions of dollars in sales in the United States alone. As patents on these blockbuster drugs have expired, they’ve provided generic manufacturers with enormous revenues, helping some to join the ranks of the world’s biggest drug companies.


PHOENIX — Healthcare information provider Wolters Kluwer Pharma has appointed Henry Prolog as its VP data strategy, acquisitions and services, the company said.

The company said Prolog brought more than 25 years of sales, data contracts and marketing experience in the healthcare, technology and information services industries. Before Wolters Kluwer, Prolog worked for IMS Health, Siemens Medical, Fresenius USA and Verispan. Most recently, he was national director for channels at US Oncology in Houston.

SUPPLIER NEWS — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a drug made by Johnson & Johnson for treating deep vein thrombosis in patients undergoing knee or hip replacement surgery, a J&J subsidiary said. Janssen Pharmaceuticals announced the approval of Xarelto (rivaroxaban) tablets as a once-daily oral anticoagulant for DVT, a condition that could lead to pulmonary embolism.


SUPPLIER NEWS — A generic drug maker has been granted approval from the Food and Drug Administration to manufacture its version of a urinary tract infection treatment. Amneal Pharmaceuticals said that its nitrofurantoin oral suspension in the 25-mg/5-mL strength is the first-to-market generic version of Furadantin, made by Shionogi Pharma. Amneal will sell its generic in 8-oz. (230-mL) size bottles, the company said. Annual U.S. sales of nitrofurantoin oral suspension totaled $40 million for the year ended in January, according to IMS Health data.


PARSIPPANY, N.J. — Global spending on medicines will reach nearly $1.1 trillion by 2015, according to a new study by market research firm IMS Health.

PARSIPPANY, N.J. — U.S. spending on drugs grew 2.3% to $307.4 billion in 2010, according to a new report by the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics, part of industry research firm IMS Health.