Top 50 OTC brands ranked by 2003 dollar sales

Drug Store News, May 17, 2004 by Michael Johnsen

Top 50 OTC brands ranked by 2003 dollar sales ([dagger])

Brand                            Sales *   % change

Nicorette anti-smoking gum        $138.0     -11.3%

Tylenol pain relief--tablets       129.4       -8.3

Advil pain relief--tablets         116.6        3.5

Depend adult incontinence           89.0       -0.8

Claritin allergy--tablets           86.9    1,177.7

Aleve pain relief--tablets          65.4        7.6

Nicoderm CQ anti-smoking patch      65.0      -23.3

Claritin-D allergy--tablets         61.0    2,418.5

Nature Made 1 & 2 letter            59.5        3.1
vitamins

Benadryl allergy--tablets           56.8       -0.8

Centrum Silver multivitamins        51.0        7.4

Bayer pain relief--tablets          48.2       -1.6

Vicks NyQuil                        47.6       11.6
cough-cold--liquid

Tylenol PM pain                     47.1        3.5
relief--tablets

Nature Made mineral                 45.8       20.8
supplements

Depend Poise adult                  44.1        4.5
incontinence

Ace muscle/body support             43.9        3.6

Futuro muscle/body support          42.8        1.8

Halls cough drop                    42.8        4.2

Trojan male contraceptives          41.7       -1.2

Centrum multivitamins               40.8       -9.5

Prilosec OTC                        40.8        N/A

Robitussin DM                       40.3        5.3

Nature's Bounty mineral             39.6       26.3
supplements

Dr. Scholls foot care devices       39.6        6.8

Johnson & Johnson first aid        $39.0      -2.9%
tape/bandages

Motrin IB pain relief--tablets      38.1        8.0

Tylenol pain relief--liquid         38.0       12.8

E.P.T pregnancy test kits           37.5       -3.6

Zantac 75 antacid tablets           37.3       -6.3

Pepcid AC antacid tablets           36.4       -3.4

Band-Aid first aid                  35.4       11.7
tape/bandages

Abreva lip balm/cold sore           35.3        9.3

Osteo Bi-Flex dietary               33.2       10.7
supplement

ThermaCare heat packs               32.6       22.9

Chapstick lip balm                  32.5        4.7

Monistat 3 vaginal treatment        31.8       -7.3

Slim Fast Meal Options              31.2       23.8
diet--liquid/powder

Alavert allergy talblets            31.2        N/A

Commit anti-smoking tablets         31.0    1,585.3

Metamucil laxative--liquid/         30.8      -12.4
powder

Children's Motrin pain              30.7       -3.2
relief--liquid

TheraFlu cough-cold--tablets/       29.9       23.9
packets

Ensure adult                        29.2       -7.4
nutritional--liquid

Alka Seltzer Plus                   27.8        2.1
cough-cold--tablets/packets

Tylenol Cold                        27.5       12.3
cough-cold--tablets/packets

Metabolife 356 diet--tablets        27.2      -47.4

Trojan Enz male contraceptives      26.6        1.1

Bausch & Lomb Renu Multiplus        26.4       18.0

Imodium AD diarrhea tablets         26.4       -3.3

Brand                            Comment

Nicorette anti-smoking gum       Suffered at the hands of private
                                 label and news that teens were
                                 misusing the product, not to mention
                                 competition from Commit.

Tylenol pain relief--tablets     Competition grows for the No. 1
                                 analgesic spot, but a hip new ad cam-
                                 paign for Tylenol could reverse that
                                 trend.

Advil pain relief--tablets       Advil Liqui-Gels were relaunched last
                                 year, but to less fanfare and with
                                 competition from store brand
                                 liqui-gels.

Depend adult incontinence        Depend refastenable underwear won a
                                 2003 Caregiver Friendly Award for its
                                 design--25 million Americans
                                 experience urinary incontinence.

Claritin allergy--tablets        With little more than one year
                                 on-shelf, Claritin was the
                                 fastest-growing OTC brand in 2003.

Aleve pain relief--tablets       Facing stiff competition from
                                 prescription-only cox-2 inhibitors,
                                 Bayer's Aleve, also positioned
                                 against arthritis pain, still posted
                                 a significant gain.

Nicoderm CQ anti-smoking patch   Commit lozenge seems to have stolen
                                 more thunder from nicotine patches
                                 than nicotine gum.

Claritin-D allergy--tablets      Total sales across all Claritin
                                 SKUs--including Claritin, Claritin-D
                                 and Claritin RediTabs--reached $415
                                 million last year.

Nature Made 1 & 2 letter         Pharmavite experienced a boost last
vitamins                         year as two chief competitors, Rexall
                                 Sundown and GNC, were sold and a
                                 third, Twinlab, went into bankruptcy.

Benadryl allergy--tablets        Despite gains of encroaching OTC
                                 loratadine products, Pfizer managed
                                 to retain core Benadryl customers.

Centrum Silver multivitamins     Speaking to aging Americans, sales of
                                 Silver led the way for the Centrum
                                 brand.

Bayer pain relief--tablets       FDA quashed a first heart attack
                                 prevention claim, but Bayer still
                                 benefits from an indication for
                                 prevention of a second heart attack.

Vicks NyQuil                     A strong and early start to the cold
cough-cold--liquid               and flu season benefited the entire
                                 category--to say nothing of
                                 retailers' fourth quarter comp sales.

Tylenol PM pain                  Pain is the second most common sleep
relief--tablets                  disturbance, according to a survey of
                                 older Americans--19 percent said pain
                                 keeps them awake a few nights a week.

Nature Made mineral              Growing support from the medical
supplements                      community has helped build minerals
                                 into the largest and highest-growth
                                 segment of the business.

Depend Poise adult               Designed for women with mild to
incontinence                     moderate bladder control issues, it
                                 has been well received--1-in-4 women
                                 over age 18 experience involuntarily
                                 leaking.

Ace muscle/body support          Better, more sophisticated product
                                 designs and an active, but aging,
                                 consumer population continue to fuel
                                 growth in the category ...

Futuro muscle/body support       ... Not to mention more physicians
                                 prescribing exercise for people with
                                 diabetes and heart disease.

Halls cough drop                 Fruit Breezers had multiple
                                 placements throughout the store to
                                 capture every purchasing occasion and
                                 feed the brand's growth.

Trojan male contraceptives       New product introductions in recent
                                 years focus on pleasure versus
                                 prevention--e.g., Twisted Pleasure
                                 and Trojan Her Pleasure.

Centrum multivitamins            Has begun promoting the benefits of
                                 the natural, tomato-based, heart-
                                 healthy ingredient, lycopene.

Prilosec OTC                     The second blockbuster prescription
                                 drug to switch to OTC in as many
                                 years overcame challenge of
                                 communicating a complicated regimen.

Robitussin DM                    Again, the timing of the flu season--
                                 not to mention a limited initial
                                 availability of flu vaccine--floated
                                 all boats in cough-cold last year.

Nature's Bounty mineral          Grew sales significantly, even as
supplements                      NBTY pulled off Rexall Sundown
                                 acquisition.

Dr. Scholls foot care devices    2003 "Are you gellin?" campaign
                                 provided a lift in sales for all gel
                                 foot care devices.

Johnson & Johnson first aid      Has a strong heritage of "switching"
tape/bandages                    professional wound care technology to
                                 mass, such as Advanced Care Quick
                                 Stop Gauze Pads in 2002.

Motrin IB pain relief--tablets   Even with a consumer ad budget some
                                 three times smaller than Advil, the
                                 leading ibuprofen brand, Motrin still
                                 manages healthy growth.

Tylenol pain relief--liquid      McNeil late last year extended its
                                 Tylenol line of liquid analgesics
                                 with two new flavors: blue raspberry
                                 and strawberry.

E.P.T pregnancy test kits        Pfizer launched a digital pregnancy
                                 test in December after signing a
                                 supply deal with Inverness--should
                                 lift sales in a category that skews
                                 heavily private label.

Zantac 75 antacid tablets        Faced pressure from private label
                                 even before the launch of Prilosec
                                 OTC--and unlike Tums and Pepcid, did
                                 not introduce any line extensions
                                 last year.

Pepcid AC antacid tablets        Johnson & Johnson launched Maximum
                                 Strength Pepcid AC late last year in
                                 response to Prilosec OTC, somewhat
                                 cannibalizing sales of its core
                                 brand.

Band-Aid first aid               Continues to reap benefits of 2002
tape/bandages                    launch of liquid Bandage and hot kids
                                 entertainment licenses like Spongebob
                                 Squareponts and Harry Potter.

Abreva lip balm/cold sore        Abreva owes its success in part to a
                                 premium pricing strategy--sustainable
                                 because it is still the only OTC
                                 product on the market that speeds
                                 healing time.

Osteo Bi-Flex dietary            Already the No. 1 glucosamine and
supplement                       chondroitin brand, Osteo Bi-Flex got
                                 a lift last year from an ad campaign
                                 featuring Frankenstein as its
                                 spokesman.

ThermaCare heat packs            P&G leveraged its position with
                                 retailers to get ThermaCare into the
                                 pain relief aisle. The result? A lot
                                 of incremental sales for retailers.

Chapstick lip balm               A strong brand heritage helps secure
                                 one-third of all sales in an
                                 increasingly crowded lip care
                                 category.

Monistat 3 vaginal treatment     Three-day treatments for vaginal
                                 yeast infections remain the most
                                 popular despite growth in one-day
                                 remedies and store brands.

Slim Fast Meal Options           Despite a positive showing in drug,
diet--liquid/powder              Slim Fast met intense challenges from
                                 the introduction of a slew of
                                 low-carb dieting products.

Alavert allergy talblets         Although a distant second to
                                 Schering-Plough's loratadine
                                 formulation Claritin, exceeded
                                 Wyeth's year-end sales expectations
                                 of $100 million in F/D/M.

Commit anti-smoking tablets      With a full year of sales under its
                                 belt, GlaxoSmithKline's nicotine-
                                 replacement lozenge is shaking things
                                 up in the smoking-cessation category.

Metamucil laxative--liquid/      Low-carb lifestylers badly in need of
powder                           fiber and rising utilization of drugs
                                 that cause constipation should drive
                                 laxative sales.

Children's Motrin pain           Sales of Children's Motrin suffered
relief--liquid                   after a slew of competitive
                                 children's liquid analgesics were
                                 launched, including Motrin sister
                                 brand Children's Tylenol.

TheraFlu cough-cold--tablets/    Strong flu season--not to mention
packets                          strong brand reputation for fighting
                                 flu--helped drive $5.8 million in
                                 incremental sales far the TheraFlu
                                 brand.

Ensure adult                     Abbott Laboratories last year
nutritional--liquid              launched a resealable bottle,
                                 offering a new, convenient format for
                                 the top-selling adult nutritional
                                 brand.

Alka Seltzer Plus                Alka-Seltzer Plus Ready Relief may
cough-cold--tablets/packets      stimulate overall sales of the
                                 brand--but it's still nowhere near
                                 where it was before the PPA recall of
                                 2000.

Tylenol Cold                     Success of Tylenol Cold combo packs--
cough-cold--tablets/packets      featuring both daytime and night-time
                                 formulas--prompted McNeil to extend
                                 the offering to Tylenol.

Metabolife 356 diet--tablets     Ephedra has come and gone, and now
                                 Metabolife looks to leverage a strong
                                 brand in diet aids with a new lineup
                                 of ephedra-free products.

Trojan Enz male contraceptives   Despite some humble gains overall,
                                 sales of condoms last year suffered
                                 from the nonoxynol-9 controversy.

Bausch & Lomb Renu Multiplus     An FDA approval for use with all
                                 types of soft contact lenses helped
                                 drive $4 million in incremental
                                 growth in drug stores.

Imodium AD diarrhea tablets      Introduction of Imodium Advanced
                                 cannibalized somewhat sales for the
                                 core brand.

Source: Information Resources Inc. for the 52 weeks ended
Dec. 28, 2003.

* All sales in millions

([dagger]) Excludes private label