Supply of Oseltamivir has declined 55% since COVID outbreak

The supply of respiratory medicine to pharmacies is 40.6% compared to the previous year ↓

After COVID-19 epidemic, the supply of respiratory medicine has dropped by nearly half.

 

According to the HIRA's "Medicine Distribution Newsletter No.

 

1" published on the 5th, the supply of respiratory drugs in spring and winter since 2020 decreased by 40.6% compared to the same period last year, and the supply of Oseltamivir used to treat flu also decreased by 55.1% compared to the same period last year.

 

According to the period, 10,719,850 respiratory drugs (based on ATC code 'R05'cough and cold preparation OTC) were supplied from November 2019 to April 2020, while only 597,997,447 were supplied, down 40.6% from November 2020 to April 2021.

 

During the same period, the supply of Oseltamivir (based on ATC code "J05AH02") decreased 55.1% from 155,716 to 69,870.

 

The information center has launched a newsletter for drug distribution to share changes in the drug distribution information management system and recent trends and issues.

 

According to the newsletter, as of 2020, the total number of drug suppliers is 3,654 and the size of the distribution market is ₩75.9 trillion per year.

 

By business type, wholesale drug dealers account for 3,170 (86.8%), pharmaceutical manufacturers and importers account for 484 (13.3%) and companies based in Seoul and Gyeonggi account for 48.9% by region.

 

The top 5% of drug suppliers account for 71% of the total drug distribution market.

 

The proportion of manufacturers and importers directly supply medicines to medical institutions is 10.6% of all transactions, and in most cases, they supply them to medical institutions through wholesalers.The distribution amount of medicines supplied to medical institutions among all drug supplies in 2020 is ₩30.3 trillion, and the amount of distribution other than the supply of medical institutions such as transactions between companies is ₩45.5 trillion.

 

The supply amount of Rx drugs was ₩27 trillion (89%), the supply amount of OTC was ₩3.3 trillion(11%), and most of the medicines supplied were Rx drugs.