SHOT IN THE ARM

COVID-19 HAS BROUGHT TO THE FORE A SLEW OF TOP-SELLING DRUGS THAT WERE NOT SO HOT EARLIER

- NEETU CHANDRA SHARMA

YOU HAVE PROBABLY heard of Dolo 650. The antipyretic—a medicine used to treat fever and body ache—was in high demand in January 2022, cornering sales of ₹51.79 crore or about 23.4 million strips, as per Pharmasofttech AWACS, a pharma market research company. Comparatively, in January 2021, sales were ₹18 crore. In the 12-month period of January to December 2021 Dolo 650 clocked sales of ₹417 crore (about 189.4 million strips) as per AWACS. Thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, almost every household today is aware of the drug. Manufactured by Micro Labs, Dolo 650 was the most prescribed antipyretic during the third wave of Covid-19. “Whenever there has been outbreak of viral infections, Dolo 650 has seen spike in prescriptions and sales. Going by our past experience during the outbreaks of Chikungunya, H1N1 (Swine Flu) and Dengue, spike in sales of Dolo 650 during Covid-19 was expected,” says Jayaraj G., Executive Vice President-Marketing, Micro Labs. “Also, Dolo 650 found a place in the Covid treatment protocol of every medical agency. So, we expected a spike bigger than that of earlier outbreaks.”