Loratadine is on the hot search, the demand for anti-allergic drugs has soared, how can pharmacies seize the opportunity?
Sentence | Ada
01
"Loratatadine" is on the hot search,
Multi-channel demand has surged
In spring and summer, many places have entered a period of high incidence of flying flotsam, which has brought a lot of trouble to people who are prone to allergies.
Recently, loratadine, the "top stream" in the anti-allergy industry, has been ranked first in the hot search, with #氯雷他定#话题阅读量达1 900 million. Many netizens who are prone to allergies even jokingly call themselves "loratadine people", and carry loratadine tablets with them when they go out to "continue their lives".
Image source: Weibo hot search list
Loratadine is a second-generation H1 antihistamine, which is mainly used for allergic rhinitis, acute and chronic urticaria, allergic conjunctivitis, hay fever and other allergic skin diseases, relieving uncomfortable symptoms caused by allergies, and is widely used in clinical practice. The arrival of the allergy season has driven the demand for anti-allergic drugs represented by loratadine to soar.
Compared with the first half of March, since mid-March, the search volume of loratadine among Beijing citizens has increased by 1.5 times, and the search volume of the keyword "allergic rhinitis" has increased by 2 times month-on-month. In the past week, the search volume of loratadine has increased by 121% month-on-month, and the order volume has increased by 87% month-on-month, of which the total orders from Beijing, Tianjin, Hubei and Hebei account for 4% of the overall order volume.
In terms of offline, the latest data from Zhongkang Lingsu system shows that since March, the sales index of systemic anti-allergy drugs in offline pharmacies, the sales rate and the average daily store sales have continued to rise, reaching the highest peak this year by mid-April.
Systemic Allergy Drugs - Trend of Daily Average Store Sales of Retail Pharmacies Nationwide
(As of April 16, 2024)
Data source: Zhongkangling speed system
A pharmacy clerk told "First Pharmacy Caizhi" that since March, the number of customers who have come to the store to buy anti-allergy drugs has increased significantly, and more than half of them choose to buy loratadine, in addition, the sales volume of levocetirizine, desloratadine, and cetirizine have also increased slightly. "Although there has been a recent increase in customer purchases, we have taken into account the seasonal impact when stocking and there will be no shortage of stock for the time being. ”
02
self-medication behavior,
Drive the growth of the out-of-hospital anti-allergy drugs market
According to the data of Zhongkang Kaisi system, in 2023, the sales scale of systemic anti-allergy drugs in the retail terminal market will exceed 2.8 billion yuan, and systemic antihistamines will occupy more than 95% of the market share. Among them, loratadine will achieve sales of 1.63 billion yuan in retail channels in 2023, which will be slightly lower than that in 2022 due to the impact of the "hoarding tide", and the overall upward trend is from the sales performance in the past five years.
Systemic Allergy Drugs - Sales Scale of Retail Terminal Market (2017-2023)
Data source: Zhongkang Kaisi system
Loratadine - Sales Scale of Retail Terminal Market (2017-2023)
Data source: Zhongkang Kaisi system
The hot search topic has made the public aware of loratadine and driven more self-medication behaviors, and behind the joke of netizens "going out and carrying loratadine", there is a risk of irrational drug use.
Xiao Lu, a traditional Chinese pharmacist deputy director of the Department of Pharmacy of Nanjing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, reminded in an interview with a reporter from the Yangtze Evening News that loratadine is an H1 antihistamine, which cannot eradicate allergens and is generally used in the acute attack period. Therefore, it is recommended that "loratadine people" who often take the medicine "in their pockets" should not take the drug continuously for more than 1-2 weeks.
Regarding cetirizine recommended by many netizens, she reminded: "Clinically, patients will not be allowed to take loratadine and cetirizine at the same time, it is not the effect of '1+1=2', and unauthorized addition may increase drug side effects." Patients should choose a medication or treatment modality under the guidance of a doctor. ”
It is worth noting that the fluff period will not end anytime soon. Taking Beijing as an example, according to the forecast of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Landscaping, Beijing willow flying floc has entered the first high incidence period, and it is expected that there will be three rounds, which will last until late May, a total of about 50 days.
This also suggests that pharmacies can carry out activities for keywords such as "flying flotsam", "allergies" and "rhinitis", assist doctors in providing health services and medication guidance, alleviate the spring allergy anxiety of "loratadine people", and increase customer stickiness by providing professional services and emotional value.
03
allergic diseases,
What is the entry point for patient management in pharmacies?
Allergic diseases often have the characteristics of long-term and recurrent attacks, and patients have the characteristics of periodic drug purchases, which are worthy of the attention of pharmacies. Yu Zhigang, chairman of Shandong Yanxitang Pharmaceutical Chain Co., Ltd., said at the 2023 CIPU meeting that pharmacies can strengthen the development of goods and services for allergic diseases in addition to the "three highs" when developing chronic disease management service projects.
Taking allergic rhinitis as an example, the prevalence has increased significantly in recent years, and it has become a major chronic inflammatory disease of the respiratory tract in mainland China.
Some pharmacy practitioners bluntly said that the "three high" patient management has high requirements for the pharmacy's professionalism, and the decision-making power is mainly in the hands of doctors, and the pharmacy can intervene with little space and great difficulty. Therefore, pharmacies can manage and provide services for diseases that are not life-threatening for the time being, such as allergic rhinitis, but have repeatedly plagued patients for a long time.
On the one hand, patients with allergic rhinitis are less dependent on prescriptions, and they are mild symptoms in hospitals, which lack attention and management, which just provides opportunities for patient health management in out-of-hospital pharmacies. In addition, the difficulty of allergic rhinitis clerk training and consumer education is low, and by controlling the course of the disease and improving compliance, it can bring patients a significant symptom improvement experience, which is more conducive to building patients' trust.
The person in charge of a pharmaceutical company also said that allergic rhinitis is a "minor disease" in the eyes of many people, which will not be taken seriously in the hospital, and the patients themselves are not strong in the health awareness related to this disease, resulting in daily neglect of self-management, which has a great impact on daily social interaction and quality of life, and is also easy to cause problems such as sleep disorders, headaches, sinusitis and even asthma. "For patients with such diseases, we need to give care in addition to health services. ”
She introduced that pharmacies need to set up "early warning points" in the process of patient management. For example, before the high incidence of rhinitis every year, patients are reminded to take preventive medication to avoid the occurrence of moderate to severe variant rhinitis as much as possible. At the same time, it is also necessary to record the allergens and disease course of each patient, pay attention to events that are highly related to the onset of the disease, such as asthma, conjunctivitis, etc., and guide patients and their families to control the environment, pay attention to the amount of exercise daily, and keep the nasal cavity clean. From health protection to daily life care, we provide patients with more meticulous and intimate patient management.