Prolific profits

THE increase of debilitating disorders,
like asthma, may have sent shock waves
amongst the human population worldwide, but has resulted in a windfall for
the pharmaceutical industries the world
over. The year past - 1995 - saw drug
sales soaring to record levels: markets in
the top nine countries including us,
Japan, Germany, France, Italy, Spain,
the Netherlands and Belgium posted a
growth of eight per cent as compared to'
five per cent in 1994 and one per cent in
1993. Records released by ims International, a drugs industry market
research organisation, recently put the
us drug market as the fastest growing,
followed by the UK and Japan. Giving the
industry a boost were drugs like Prozac,
an anti-depressant, manufactured by Eli
Lilly of the us, and Zantac, an ulcer drug
manufactured by UK's Glaxo Wellcome.