Manufacturers’ Roulette unlikely to pay a second time
Banking on pandemics is a bit like betting green at the Roulette table. It doesn’t hit often, but when it does hit, there’s a big payout.
By all accounts, it’s been a very busy first half of the season for cough-cold manufacturers, even though the 52-week comparable period is only showing a 1.9% lift in overall sales across food, drug and mass (minus Walmart) for the period ended Jan. 24, according to Information Resources Inc. data.
For the 2009-2010 season, the weekly percentage of outpatient visits for influenza-like illness peaked at the end of October 2009 at 7.7%, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. That peak was higher than the three previous influenza seasons as reported by the U.S. Outpatient ILI Surveillance Network. The percentage of outpatient visits for flu decreased to 1.8% at the beginning of January. The number of states reporting widespread influenza activity dropped from 49 at the end of October 2009 to zero at the beginning of January.
Top 10 cold/allergy/ sinus liquids/powders| BRAND | SALES* | % CHANGE |
| Store brand | $149.4 | 14.2% |
| Vicks Nyquil | 89.7 | 2.0 |
| Children’s Tylenol | 41.1 | -5.3 |
| Theraflu | 33.0 | 33.7 |
| Benadryl | 31.8 | 7.8 |
| Tylenol Cold | 30.0 | 17.6 |
| Robitussin | 27.7 | -18.0 |
| Zyrtec | 26.5 | 6.4 |
| Triaminic | 25.0 | 5.9 |
| Dimetapp | 22.9 | 18.0 |
| TOTAL CATEGORY | $631.0 | 3.8% |
Encompassing cough drops and cough syrups—as well as cough/allergy/sinus tablets, liquids and powders—sales across these four broad categories totaled $4.1 billion in that period, representing $75.8 million in incremental sales versus the prior year.
Some of the big winners across cough-cold in the past year included Reckitt Benckiser and Novartis Consumer Healthcare. Reckitt Benckiser realized $12.7 million in incremental sales across its Delsym brand for the year (sales $88.1 million, up 16.8%) and $9.4 million across Mucinex D, sold exclusively behind the pharmacy counter (sales $80.4 million, up 13.3%). And Novartis’ Theraflu brand performed exceptionally well, with $8.3 million in incremental dollars across Theraflu liquids ($33 million, up 33.7%) and $10.2 million incremental dollars across Theraflu tablets ($78.6 million, up 14.9%).
Top 10 cold/allergy/sinus tablets| BRAND | SALES* | % CHANGE |
| Store brand | $698.1 | 13.8% |
| Zyrtec | 213.5 | -14.3 |
| Claritin | 156.8 | 10.1 |
| Mucinex | 148.7 | -1.4 |
| Mucinex DM | 143.1 | 6.9 |
| Benadryl | 125.7 | -3.4 |
| Claritin D | 123.5 | -10.5 |
| Sudafed PE | 91.5 | -4.5 |
| Tylenol Cold | 91.5 | -3.3 |
| Mucinex D | 80.4 | 13.3 |
| TOTAL CATEGORY | $2,665.6 | 0.9% |
Manufacturers of homeopathic cough-cold remedies, in particular, have realized significant sales gains. Sales of Matrixx’ Zicam tablets were up 14.1% to $44.7 million. And within sales of cough syrups, both Boiron and Hyland’s cracked the top 10 list of cough syrup manufacturers, with sales of $1.8 million (up 436.3%) and $1.2 million (84.4%), respectively. Add into the mix Walmart, and he numbers become more substantial, one homeopathic manufacturer noted, as distribution was expanded from 350 Walmart locations last year to more than 3,200 this year.
Top 10 cough drop vendors (primary brand in parentheses)| BRAND | SALES* | % CHANGE |
| Cadbury Adams (Halls) | $171.8 | 0.7% |
| Store brand | 71.7 | 4.7 |
| Ricola (Ricola) | 66.4 | 11.2 |
| Quigley (Cold Eeze) | 23.3 | -13.1 |
| McNeil Consumer (Luden’s) | 20.4 | 4.3 |
| Combe (Cepacol) | 19.0 | 4.7 |
| Prestige brands (Chloraseptic) | 13.7 | -9.6 |
| Insight Pharmaceuticals (Sucrets) | 9.1 | -9.0 |
| Lofthouse of Fleetwood (Fisherman’s Friend) | 4.0 | 7.6 |
| Abkit (Zucol) | 2.5 | 224.6 |
| TOTAL CATEGORY | $408.4 | 0.4% |
For Boiron, some of that triple-digit growth can be traced to increased distribution, “but more of it was the fact that our lead product Oscillococcinum is indicated for the treatment of flu-like symptoms,” John Durkin, Boiron VP sales and marketing, told Drug Store News. “We had done a lot of branding on that product with an advertising and PR campaign.” Sales of Oscillo certainly were linked to incidence of H1N1, Durkin noted, as sales were very strong beginning with the initial reports of H1N1 incidence in March/April of last year through the end of the year.
Top 10 cough syrup vendors (primary brand in parentheses)| BRAND | SALES* | % CHANGE |
| Pfizer Consumer (Robitussin) | $149.4 | 14.2% |
| Reckitt Benckiser (Delsym) | 89.7 | 2.0 |
| Store brand | 41.1 | -5.3 |
| Procter & Gamble (Vicks NyQuil) | 33.0 | 33.7 |
| Novartis Consumer (Triaminic) | 31.8 | 7.8 |
| Health Care Products (Diabetic Tussin) |