DRUG SALES GROW 5 PERCENT WORLDWIDE, COMPANY REPORTS

IMS Health reported a 5 percent growth in drug sales worldwide from October 2005 to October 2006, with total sales reaching $383.7 billion.

The U.S. had 6 percent growth with $194 billion in sales, IMS said in a Jan. 3 report. Latin America's top three markets -- Mexico, Brazil and Argentina -- had the largest combined growth out of the 13 major markets IMS studied, at 12 percent.

Sales in the top five European markets were slightly slower, but still showed 4 percent growth. Japan's sales were significantly lagging behind other markets, with 1 percent growth.

Pfizer's cholesterol-lowering medication Lipitor was the best-selling drug over the 12-month period, worth more than $11.67 billion, although its growth decreased 3.9 percent, according to IMS. The report named Pfizer as the top-selling corporation.

AstraZeneca's Nexium had the largest overall growth at 16.4 percent and was the second-best-selling drug, IMS said. Completing the top five drugs were GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) Seretide, Plavix, made by sanofi-aventis and Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Pfizer's Norvasc.

GSK, Novartis, AstraZeneca and Merck were the top-selling companies behind Pfizer, according to IMS.