Pharmacies See Race Against Colds Now As People Socialize Again

The germs are back. As Americans begin to return to their normal routines – including socializing, dining out, and traveling – sales of flu and cold medications have started to increase.

After a record year of sales of cold and flu therapy during the pandemic, when consumers were mostly confined to their homes or wore masks when in public, retail pharmacies such as CVS and Rite Aid expect sales to increase as more people come in contact with pathogens they previously avoided – and come down with the sniffles.

“The problem we have right now is that the most profitable part of our business has been under extreme stress,” Heyward Donigan, CEO of Rite Aid, said on an earnings call last month. “And not only has been, but still is. And it’s the cough and cold and flu and all the acute stuff that hasn’t come back yet. “

The Covid precautions resulted in a $ 5 million drop in prescription transaction revenue during last year’s flu season, drug price tracker GoodRx said on an earnings call in may. Walgreens said the low incidence of influenza led to a 3.5% drop in store sales of cough and cold medicine between the first three months of 2021 compared to the same time of year. last.

Prescriptions for Tamiflu have dropped from 200,000 before the pandemic to just 200 last year, Rite Aid reported in March. The company also noted an almost 40% drop in its cough, cold and flu remedies business from the previous year.

Travel restrictions and stay-at-home orders have played a critical role in stopping the spread of the coronavirus and, by proxy, the common cold and flu, said William Schaffner, professor of infectious diseases at the University. Vanderbilt. But, more importantly, school closures have limited the spread of colds and flu among children who then normally take them home, he said.

“It has not given the flu virus a chance to move around the population as it normally does,” he said. “Now that we reopen again, the influenza virus and other respiratory viruses will benefit. We’ll have respiratory viruses again, but how bad?

Already, retail pharmacies are seeing a rebound in sales of colds and flu as respiratory virus cases are on the rise.

“Over the past few months, if not weeks, especially with the rise of respiratory syncytial virus as well as the recognition of other viruses, we are seeing growth,” said Laxman Narasimhan, CEO of Reckitt Benckiser Group, who manufactures Mucinex, in a Tuesday results call. Mucinex sales increased in June compared to last year and even more in the first weeks of July, Narasimhan said.

Walgreens spokesperson Megan Boyd told NBC News in an emailed statement that the company saw a slight increase in demand for cold and flu remedies over the past week and an increase in more significant year-over-year demand in recent months. . Karen Lynch, CEO of CVS Health, said on an earnings conference call in June that prescription volumes rebounded as early as April and May.

“As mobility picks up, one of the unfortunate and simple realities is that we will return to cold and flu season,” said Henry Walter, president of North America at Mondelez International, which makes lozenges. Halls Cough Cough, at a company presentation last month.

Covid and its behavioral fallout have already altered long-term forecasts for sales of cold and flu products, which are expected to drop from $ 9.5 billion last year to $ 9.4 billion by 2025, according to an April report from market research firm Mintel. The growth or decline of the market will depend on the adoption of remote work, hybrid schooling and new masking and hygiene behaviors, he said.

While cold and flu sales will rebound this year from last year’s record declines, they could slow again as Covid variants take hold, said Bob Sanders, executive vice president of healthcare. health of market research firm IRI Worldwide, which tracks consumer packaged products.

“The key here is mobility,” he said. “It really depends on where the pandemic takes us going forward. “