Shift from Rx to OTC & Consumer Healthcare: A New Dimensions of Wellness

Product Marketing scenario -

3 painful months have been walk past by Indian Pharma and we the people associated with the industry experienced many changes, many predictions and many webinar or Zoom session with experts. Indian Pharma also have seen a significant reduction in new Rx generation. In April-May, new Rx generation has been gone down by around 68% and the Industry was planning to launch around 450+ new products and ultimately launch only 4 new products.

The pharma industry has seen a fall of about 99% in new product launches since April 2019. #Covid19 crisis and subsequent lockdown has impacted every industry in India, including the one industry needed to fight the pandemic — pharmaceuticals.

According to data by IQVIA, an advanced analytics and health research company, only four new products were launched in April by pharmaceutical companies in India — the lowest ever. Among four products launched include two in dermatology, one immunomodulator and one in the respiratory category.

But the sudden change in preferred therapies by masses has just taken a sharp turn from pre-COVID period when gastric, vitamin therapies were most widely used. The changes in the medication needs of the masses due to the novel coronavirus pandemic seems to impact the operation of pharmaceutical companies with those dealing in respiratory, anti-diabetic, cardiac therapies performing much better than others having anti-infective, gastro, vitamin or pain therapies in their portfolio. Now only BRANDS are doing it’s BEST in this peri-covid times. If your product – a BRAND.

Market behavior -

This unanticipated crisis having significantly transformed almost every facet of the global supply chain across industries, the burgeoning health and wellness sphere is no exception. Comprehending this aspect, the pandemic will also modify the path of how wellness will evolve across the globe in the post-pandemic times.

Accordingly, while Dr Reddy’s Labs, Alkem having higher drug concentration in acute exposure category underperformed while the Indian Pharmaceutical Market (IPM), Sun Pharma, Torrent Pharma, Lupin, outperformed the market due to their high chronic portfolio. In June, demand for cardiac drugs registered the strongest growth of 15.9 per cent y-o-y in terms of value and anti-diabetic segment grew at 12.7 per cent y-o-y due to continued buying during the period of the lockdown. Cipla, Glenmark outperformed due to strong respiratory demand, while IPCA benefitted from high hydroxychloroquine sales, which has been touted as wonder drug having the potential to positively impact severe Covid-19 patients.

Shift in Positioning – Wellness redefined

The universal demand for immunity products will probably deliver an enduring ‘new norm’ of higher growth for these types of supplements and brands will necessitate revolutionizing to meet the demands. A noteworthy segment of consumers will have made use of this lockdown phase to educate themselves on ways by which they can increase their immunity levels and this newly-educated base of consumers will surely bestow the sector with long-standing opportunities. Many companies started producing different kind of sanitizers and other healthcare protective gear to fight Covid. Suddenly almost all companies found one or the other products in their portfolio have tremendous power to boost “Immunity” . There is an urge to introduce OTC or consumer healthcare related products or highlighting products from their old or present basket and shifting those to OTC platform. Many companies also planning to shift or introduce their products in OTC platform for therapies like Nutrition supplements, Pain Relief, Oral Health, Gastro Intestinal and Skin Health related products.

Forced digitalization – Virtual part of life

It’s time to think more about B2C for mainstream Indian Pharma marketers. Most of the educated people are now accessing health info from internet. Increasing penetration of internet helps in shifting towards more online purchase of OTC/healthcare drugs. Many e-Pharmacies sell variety of products online including OTC drugs which generally don’t need prescription, prescription drugs, health supplements, beauty products, etc.

Increasing use of net also drives the boost in FDI too. After Facebook, Google's decision to invest $10bn in the next 5-7 years, via a digitisation fund, to accelerate the pace of "Digital India", is a vindication of Modinomics and its outward-looking model, based albeit on India's inward strengths and priorities, which form the essence of Aatmanirbhar Bharat.

Opportunities -

An immense opportunity was already there in OTC/healthcare segment in India and during lockdown and growing sense of health awareness among common people – a new dimension has been expending the horizon further. Many companies have or planning to introduce products as ‘immunity booster’ or have strong prophylactic benefits in general well being of the enormous pool of consumers in a country like India.

Most important types of Consumer Healthcare products now Indian Pharma is gearing up during Covid times are:

? OTC Pharmaceuticals

? Dietary Supplements

Retail Pharmacy : Most widely used downstream fields of OTC & Consumer Healthcare market to tap are:

? Hospital Pharmacy

? Retail Pharmacy

? Online Pharmacy

New regulatory advisory -

The changes in shift of marketing also noticed by Govt. authorities and apex body also planning to form a consultative committee who will give its recommendations to the DTAB, which will be submitted to the government to amend the rules of OTC regulations.

R Chandrashekar, Deputy Drug Controller (India), MoH&FW, Govt of India, said that the government will soon announce regulatory guidelines in order to control the over-the-counter (OTC) drugs market.

“The consultative committee will give its recommendations to the Drugs Technical Advisory Board, which will be submitted to the government to amend the rules of OTC regulations. The entire process can take 1-2 years to finalise,” said Chandrashekhar. He was speaking at a FICCI webinar on ‘Growing Importance and Relevance of Selfcare in New Normal’, organised during the ongoing ‘Virtual Healthcare & Hygiene Expo (VHHE) 2020’.

It is important to educate the Indian consumers before promoting OTC drugs. “Globally, there is information available for each OTC drug, but in India, we don’t have any law which mandates some sort of patient information with every OTC drug,”

Global scenario –

global Consumer Healthcare Products Market in a precise manner to offer detailed insights about the aspects responsible for augmenting as well as restraining market growth.

Increasing adoption of over-the-counter (OTC) consumer healthcare products is expected to propel the growth of the global consumer healthcare products market over the forecast period. For instance, according to the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, in the U.S., sales of OTC medicines reached US$ 35.2 billion in 2018, up from US$ 34.6 billion in 2017. Moreover, increasing healthcare expenditure is also expected to aid in the growth of the market. For instance, According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), health spending in the U.S. is projected to grow at an average rate of 5.5 percent per year for 2018-27 and to reach nearly US$ 6.0 trillion by 2027.

The key global OTC/healthcare product manufacturers who have strong presence in India are -

o Pfizer, Inc.

o Bayer AG

o Abbott Laboratories

o GlaxoSmithKline plc

o Sanofi

o GSK

o Mylan

o Johnson & Johnson

o Merck

o Piramal Enterprises Ltd.

o Sun Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

o Glenmark Pharmaceuticals Ltd

Now the beginning of a tough war to watch the process of branding OTC products in the mind of millions of Indian consumers – will further strengthen Indian Pharmaceutical industry as a global leader in this segment too.

Comment your views/suggestion or contact for more info to:- Sebananda Roy, Division Head (marketing & sales – OTC), Mail ID: [email protected]