Drugs for the treatment of cancer, high cholesterol, hypertension and diabetes were the top-selling medicines in Taiwan last year, says a report by IMS Health, a US-based pharmaceutical data management company.
IMS Health statistics on drug sales last year show that among the 20 top-selling drugs, six were for cancer while another six for high cholesterol, hypertension and diabetes.
Navasc, a drug used to treat high blood pressure, topped the list, followed by Glivec for the treatment of chronic myelogenous leukemia, Lipitor for high cholesterol and Divovan for hypertension, the statistics released on Saturday show.
Tai Cheng-jeng (戴承正), director of the hematology and hematological oncology department at Taipei Medical University Hospital, said the sale of cancer drugs would grow significantly in Taiwan over the next decade.
Drugs used to treat different types of cancer are expected to take 10 places on the top-20 list, Tai said.
For example, the number of people in Taiwan taking Herceptin — a drug used to prevent recurrence of breast cancer — has been increasing annually because it has proved very effective, he said.
The sale of Herceptin increased 33.8 percent last year, which was the highest growth among the 20 most popular medicines in the country, he said.
Herceptin was seventh on the IMS Health top 20 list for last year.
Tai also said sales of the drug Erbitus for the treatment of colorectal cancer will increase in the future, since every year 10,000 people are diagnosed with that type of cancer.
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