Sales of diabetes & cardiovascular drugs up 50% in Guj in two years

Time of India

a day ago

Ahmedabad: Gujarat is battling an uphill struggle with lifestyle diseases. Sales of drugs used to manage cardiovascular diseases and diabetes have shot up by at least 50% in the past two years, suggesting both a growing disease burden and increased patient compliance.
According to data intelligence platform Pharmarack, the moving annual total (MAT) for cardiac therapy drugs stood at Rs 1,632 crore as of May 2025, marking a 44.4% rise from Rs 1,130 crore recorded in May 2023. The corresponding figure for anti-diabetic therapy rose even more sharply, increasing by 55.5% from Rs 688 crore to Rs 1,070 crore during the same period.
MAT is a rolling calculation of sales value over the previous 12 months, and analysts say the consistent uptick highlights a worrying rise in non-communicable diseases driven by sedentary lifestyle, poor diets and mounting stress levels, particularly in urban areas.
According to experts, while the surge in sales is partly due to higher detection and treatment adherence, it also reflects the underlying rise in incidence.
Sheetal Sapale, vice-president-commercial, Pharmarack, said, "The rise in incidence is definitely seen, especially among the younger age group. People in their 30s and 40s are now being increasingly diagnosed with chronic conditions that were earlier associated with ageing populations.
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Poor lifestyle is the key culprit here. Moreover, with more young people succumbing to cardiovascular diseases, the awareness has also grown substantially, because of which early diagnosis is taking place.
Obesity is another key factor responsible for the higher incidence of diabetes as well as cardiac ailments."
Increased awareness, early diagnosis and improved access to care have also contributed to the jump in drug consumption.
Several doctors say that more patients are now opting for continuous medication to manage conditions proactively, rather than waiting for complications to arise.
Doctors, however, warn that dietary habits also need to change. "The Indian diet is predominantly carbohydrate-heavy and deficient in protein as well as fibre. There is a rise in the consumption of processed foods which are easily available through quick-commerce apps as well as food aggregators.
Obesity in children is becoming increasingly common because of processed and sugary food being consumed by them. These invitations to conditions like diabetes and hypertension and other cardiac ailments," said Dr Manoj Vithalani, a physician and medical expert.
Environmental pollution is also a key factor responsible for poor heart health, according to Dr Vithalani.
City-based physicians said that lifestyle related diseases and conditions are on rise steadily primarily due to sedentary lifestyle, excessive screen consumption, outside foods and lack of exercise.
The most common symptoms – which are often overlapping – include hypertension, diabetes, and obesity, they added.
Dr Ramesh Goyal, a senior endocrinologist with Apollo Hospitals, said that there has been a rise in awareness about Type 2 diabetes and thus there will be relatively more patients than 2023. "Two specific classes of medications - SGLT2 inhibitors and GLP-1 receptor agonists – are more acceptable by the practitioners and may have seen a rise in the overall mix. As diabetes is an overlapping condition, it is possible that the patients are also on other medications," he added.