• PAGE ONE
• INDEX
• HOME

Nimesulide: A `painful' crash

NIMESULIDE is a pain killer that is categorised as a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) in medical terminology.

The price of Nimesulide bulk drug has crashed over the last year. The price for a kg of Nimesulide was around Rs. 800 in December 1998 and by January 2000, the price had fallen to Rs. 385 per kg.

The primary cause for the crash in Nimesulide appears to be increasing competition on the heels of a growing number of companies taking to the production of Nimesulide. While about 70 per cent of the bulk drug market is catered to by a handful of compani es, the increase in the number of companies fighting for a market share has had an adverse impact on the price.

The pattern of price movement in Nimesulide is an interesting phenomenon because the crash in price was accompanied by a concurrent rapid growth in the use of the molecule. Nimesulide is a relatively newer NSAID that has been eating into the market of ol der generation NSAIDs such as Ibuprofen and Diclofenac. This trend, when coupled with the frequency of prescription of NSAIDs, has resulted in a fast growth in Nimesulide output over the last year.

Industry estimates that the current year's output of Nimesulide will be around 400-450 tonnes as against 300-350 tonnes in 1998-99.

In the formulation (dosage form) market, there are a little over 100 manufacturers of Nimesulide. Around 55 of these manufacturers market the molecule under a brand name. The rest simply market it under the generic name. The outcome has been a decline in Nimesulide's formulation price and an attempt to influence chemists through commissions. The declining price in both the bulk drug and formulation has hurt the profitability of manufacturers because the raw material prices have remained stable over the last year.

With technology not acting as a barrier to entry, the price trend in Nimesulide captures the intensely competitive and fragmented nature of the pharmaceutical market where a growth rate of over 30 per cent in a molecule has been accompanied by around 50 per cent fall in the price of the bulk drug.

Unlike the case of some other molecules, the crash in Nimesulide's price has not come in the backdrop of imports. Domestic competition by itself has led to a sharp fall in price. The industry believes that the possibility of excess supply and a further w eakening in the price over the next few months cannot be ruled out.

Sanjiv Shankaran

BL Research Bureau