Augmentin tops sales in February on flu, Covid

MUMBAI: Call it the flu as well as the Covid effect. Antibiotic drug Augmentin has emerged as the largest selling brand in February, overtaking the established market leader for several years now - antidiabetic therapy Human Mixtard.

Overall, the Rs 2-lakh-crore retail market also bounced back during the month by a huge 24%, buoyed by higher sales of acute therapy including respiratory and anti-infective medication. Augmentin, the widely-prescribed antibiotic jumped over 100% month-on-month, mopping up nearly Rs 80 crore in the domestic pharma retail market, the latest data culled from IQVIA said.

The trend is being attributed to the viral fever, flu and respiratory infections which have picked up pace across India over the last few weeks. Augmentin, a combination of amoxicillin and clavulanic acid, is believed to work against types of bacteria, but is being popped for viral infections too, industry experts say.

GSK Pharmaceuticals MD Bhushan Akshikar said, "Augmentin is the company's hallmark of quality and trust with healthcare professionals when it comes to patient care."

The antibiotic's growth was also the highest in the market during the month. Sun Pharma remained the market leader in February with nearly 8% share. Among therapies, respiratory registered the highest growth of 55%, followed by 51% by anti-infectives, mirroring the disease trend across the country.

JB Pharma president (India business) Dilip Singh Rathore said, "After a long time on a normalised base, we have seen the Indian pharmaceutical market recording stupendous growth. The acute segment, primarily respiratory and anti-infectives, have driven this growth. Even the chronic segment has sustained its growth momentum through cardiology. JB Pharma, being the fastest-growing company, continued to record strong growth rates across both chronic and acute and we feel the momentum will continue."

Last year in January, Azithral had moved several notches up, reporting an over 100% growth, while the previous Covid waves witnessed action in supplement Zincovit and pain-relief pill Dolo.