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The dermatology sector in India is set to boom as people are facing factors such as lifestyle changes, environmental changes, pollution, and also short term factors like heat, humidity and pollution as they resume their daily activities as pandemic-led concerns subside, according to leading Contract Development and Manufacturing Organisation (CDMO) firm Akums Drugs & Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
While consumers are becoming more aware and conscious about their skin and hair, rising disposable income is also allowing Indian consumers to spend more on skincare products for a better skincare regime. Since patient footfalls for dermatology consultations are resuming after a two-year hiatus, the segment is booming and only set to grow further.
According to a recent AWACS AIOCD report, the segment has increased to 30% in MAT May 2022. This spike in dermatology drug sales is a result of the increase in demand for anti-acne, emollients, hair restorers, anti-fungal and skin brightening formulations, as people are resuming their normal activities. This sales trend is due to various factors like stress, humidity, heat, pollution, and long Covid complications that are resulting in myriad skin- and hair-related conditions, analyses the company.
Akums Drugs also sees this development coinciding with the return to normalcy conditions, with people finally stepping out of their homes, consulting doctors to resume pending treatments and wanting to take care of their skin and hair again in the face of changing climatic conditions and higher levels of pollution.
In India, the anti-infectives, cardiac and diabetes segments have been known to dominate the market; but Akums days that in its view, dermatology is strengthening its presence gradually. As per the report, the segment is valued at Rs. 11,043 crore in May 2022, and it looks to be one of the fastest growing therapies going forward.
Sanjeev Jain, founder, promoter and director, Akums Drugs & Pharmaceuticals, says, “As per the report, for the first time since the pandemic, domestic pharmaceutical market has declined -4.8% in April 2022 and fallen further to -3.3% in May 2022 — marking a slowdown in the overall growth from the same months last year".
On the other hand, the dermatology segment sales have risen 30% last month, due to increased demand for skin- and hair-related formulations as people are resuming their normal lives.
"Given that dermatology was much ignored in the past two years, we anticipated the return to this one-time leading segment as soon as the pandemic-led concerns subside. We see this opportunity as promising and are happy to boost supplies of novel dermatological medicines to allay the increasing skin & hair complaints. We also hope to capture a larger market share for being the pioneers in dermatology manufacturing, by having a vast array of products both through our R&D and in-licensed collaborations,” he added.
Akums Drugs is equipped to keep up with the growing demands of the domestic dermatology segment by offering novel derma products targeted on various skin & hair aliments among various age groups, he added.
Akums Drugs is the largest contract manufacturing pharmaceutical company of India, manufacturing more than 12% of India’s medicine consumption. The organisation deals in the manufacturing and export of formulations in a wide spectrum of dosage forms & therapeutic segments.
The company is currently supplying to almost all Indian and multinational pharmaceutical companies across the globe.
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