Karachi: Pakistan’s retail pharmaceutical market reached Rs1.251 trillion during the 12 months from July 2025 to June 2026, recording 14.88 percent growth in value over the preceding 12-month period, data of pharmaceutical industry and Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) revealed.
The latest market assessment, covering the moving annual total up to the second quarter of 2026, estimated the size of the retail drug business at $4.45 billion. It showed that while medicine sales in rupee terms continued to rise, the number of packs and units sold grew by only 0.93 percent.
The market was valued at Rs1.089 trillion during July 2024 to June 2025, compared with Rs918.22 billion in the year ending June 2024 and Rs655.02 billion in the year ending June 2022. The industry has thus grown at a compound annual rate of 17.55 percent during the last four years.
Officials said the gap between value and volume growth pointed to the effect of price revisions, the introduction of new products and a greater share of higher-cost medicines in the market. It also reflected the continuing financial pressure on patients, whose purchasing capacity has not risen at the same pace as medicine prices.
A total of 3.80 billion medicine units were sold in the country during the 12 months ending June 2026, up from 3.765 billion units in the preceding year. Volume growth had been 2.43 percent in the year ending June 2025, showing a marked slowdown in the latest period.
National pharmaceutical companies remained the main drivers of the market, recording sales of Rs998.54 billion during July 2025-June 2026. Their sales rose 16.53 percent and accounted for nearly 80 percent of the entire retail pharmaceutical market.
Multinational companies recorded sales of Rs252.13 billion, equal to about one-fifth of the market, with value growth of 8.76 percent. Their volumes, however, fell 6.16 percent to 794 million units, compared with 846 million units in the preceding 12 months.
In contrast, national companies sold 3.006 billion units, up 2.98 percent from 2.919 billion units a year earlier. Their stronger performance came at a time when locally manufactured medicines remained relatively more accessible than several imported or multinational brands.
The growth rate of the overall industry has slowed from the sharp increases seen in earlier years. Value growth was 22.40 percent in the year ending June 2024, declined to 18.56 percent by June 2025 and eased further to 14.88 percent in the latest 12-month period.
During the April-June 2026 quarter alone, retail drug sales stood at Rs316 billion, compared with Rs275 billion in the corresponding quarter of 2025, an increase of 15.04 percent. Unit sales during the quarter grew 1.49 percent.
The final quarter of 2025 remained the highest quarterly period on record, when sales reached Rs327 billion. The industry’s highest monthly sales were recorded in October 2025, when retail pharmaceutical sales touched Rs110.89 billion.
Monthly sales remained above Rs100 billion in several months after that, including December 2025, March 2026, April 2026 and June 2026. Sales stood at Rs107.86 billion in June 2026, with national companies contributing Rs85.67 billion and multinationals Rs22.19 billion.
The assessment showed that 102 pharmaceutical companies had crossed Rs1 billion in retail sales, collectively controlling 96.63 percent of the market. Their combined dominance highlighted the concentration of the formal pharmaceutical business among established local and multinational manufacturers.
Eight companies had annual sales above Rs40 billion and together accounted for Rs474 billion, or 37.89 percent of the market. These were Getz Pharma, Abbott, Sami Pharmaceuticals, GSK, Martin Dow, Hilton Pharma, High-Q and OBS.
The group recorded growth of 10.82 percent, below the overall industry rate. Another 22 companies with sales above Rs10 billion collectively generated Rs475 billion and held a 37.97 percent market share, with growth of 12.25 percent.
Seventeen companies with sales above Rs5 billion accounted for Rs116 billion, or 9.27 percent of the market, and recorded growth of 23.55 percent. Forty-eight national and seven multinational companies in the Rs1 billion-plus category generated Rs144 billion and posted the fastest growth among the major corporate groups at 26.72 percent.
Getz Pharma remained the country’s largest national pharmaceutical company, with retail sales of Rs85.27 billion in the 12 months ending June 2026, up 19.33 percent. Sami Pharmaceuticals followed with Rs69.23 billion, although its growth was 7.12 percent.
Martin Dow reported sales of Rs52 billion, Hilton Pharma Rs46.60 billion, High-Q Rs43 billion and OBS Rs42.74 billion. Among the larger local firms, CCL grew 21.26 percent to Rs32.22 billion, Hoechst Pakistan rose 11.17 percent to Rs30.52 billion and PharmEvo grew 24.45 percent to Rs24.66 billion.
Ferozsons Laboratories was among the fastest-growing large local companies, posting 33.18 percent growth to Rs20.98 billion. NABIqasim recorded sales of Rs19.79 billion, while Macter’s sales stood at Rs15.16 billion.
Abbott remained the largest multinational company, with sales of Rs70.08 billion and growth of 9.32 percent. GSK reported Rs64.83 billion in sales, followed by Haleon with Rs38.64 billion, Nestle with Rs22.84 billion and Novo Nordisk with Rs14.53 billion.
Nestle was among the stronger-growing multinational firms, recording 32.41 percent growth. Chiesi grew 19.02 percent, Reckitt 23.50 percent, Roche 19.89 percent and Otsuka 45.32 percent, while Nutricia posted growth of 78.92 percent from a smaller base.
New product launches also made a significant contribution to the industry’s expansion. A total of 989 products were launched during the 12 months ending June 2026, excluding certain diagnostic and miscellaneous therapeutic categories, of which 982 were introduced by national companies and seven by multinationals.
These launches generated Rs19.18 billion in sales, representing 1.53 percent of the total retail pharmaceutical market. Officials said the new-product segment contributed more strongly to overall growth than in the preceding years.
Tirzee, a tirzepatide brand introduced by Getz Pharma in September 2025, emerged as the highest-selling new product, generating Rs2.61 billion during its first year in the market. Tirzepatide is used for diabetes care and, for eligible patients, weight management.
Zeptide, another tirzepatide brand launched in October 2025, generated sales of Rs780 million. Other major new launches included Quench Plus with Rs631 million, a hyaluronic acid and sulfadiazine product; Metal¬yse with Rs433 million; Fildil, a tadalafil brand, with Rs414 million; and Cetafend, a paracetamol product, with Rs316 million.
The newly introduced medicines included therapies for cancer, hypertension, diabetes, dermatological conditions, cardiovascular illness, kidney disease, eye disorders, fertility and women’s health. Officials said the expanding range of products had improved therapeutic options, but noted that affordability, rational prescribing and uninterrupted availability of essential medicines remained important concerns.