2012 season peaks late

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.


The 2011 fall allergy season leading into 2012 was relatively flat as compared with a strong 2010 fall season. And this spring allergy season is expected to recover from a slow 2011 season, Scott Hanslip, IMS Consumer Health director sales, told Drug Store News. “We’re expecting a fairly strong spring [allergy season] in 2012. We’re going to see more of a turn back to normalized conditions,” he said. 


Two cough-cold subcategories that may deserve a look for the coming season are asthma and hand sanitization. Both IMS Health and King Bio will be marketing their asthma-care offerings — Azma.com and AsthmaCare, respectively. And GoJo Industries will be revitalizing its line of hand sanitizers for next season with an Advanced Purell line.

The article above is part of the DSN Category Review Series. For the complete Cough-Cold & Allergy Buy-In Report, including extensive charts, data and more analysis, click here.