Vol.59 No.5 September 2011
A change in the sales amounts of anti-influenza drugs in Okinawa and the survey by questionnaire about the factor
1)Department of Infectious, Respiratory, and Digestive Medicine Control and Prevention of Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, University of the Ryukyus, 207 Uehara, Nishihara-cho, Nakagami-gun, Okinawa, Japan
2)Department of Hospital Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine, University of the Ryukyus
3)Okinawa Pharmaceutical Association
Abstract
In 2010, two new anti-influenza drugs with anti-neuraminidase activity, oseltamivir and zanamivir, were released, resulting in four anti-influenza drugs being available in Japan. In Okinawa, where three influenza outbreaks were observed in the last three seasons, market research into the sales of the four anti-influenza drugs was performed. In addition, a questionnaire was sent to pharmacists in health-care institutions in Okinawa to investigate factors influencing the selection of one of three anti-influenza drugs: oral oseltamivir, and intranasal zanamivir and laninamivir. Sales data indicated that the proportion of oseltamivir sales to those of zanamivir increased in 2009-2010 compared with 2008-2009. In addition, in 2010-2011, the proportion of zanamivir and oseltamivir decreased, and the proportion of laninamivir increased significantly. Sales of the fourth anti-influenza drug, peramivir, remained low at 2% in 2010-2011. In the survey returned from 113 institutions that could prescribe three of the anti-influenza drugs, oseltamivir was the most prescribed in 75 institutions, laninamivir was the most prescribed in 34 institutions, and zanamivir was the most prescribed in 4 institutions. In the questionnaire to pharmacists about which drug was the easiest to instruct on its use, 138 answered that oseltamivir was the easiest, 29 answered that laninamivir was the easiest, and only two answered that zanamivir was the easiest. It was revealed that prescribing patterns changed markedly with an increase in the number of anti-influenza drugs.
Key word
influenza, anti-influenza drug, marketing research, questionnaire survey
Received
April 13, 2011
Accepted
July 5, 2011
Jpn. J. Chemother. 59 (5): 486-494, 2011
