Delsym

By all accounts, the influenza season started off particularly strong this year, peaking just before Christmas, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but has dropped sharply since then. The increased incidence of flu this season certainly provided a jolt to drug store sales of cough-cold remedies, a category that grew 28.5 percent during the first half of cold and flu season. The total reached some $540 million in drug stores for the 12 weeks ended Dec. 28, according to Information Resources Inc. data.

Indeed, double-digit sales growth cut across all cough-cold categories. But the greatest contribution came from cold/allergy/sinus tablets, which added a $74.7 million lift in drug stores over the same period last year--driven by a full-year of Claritin and Alavert sales, not to mention almost three consecutive quarters of private label sales

Another key source of growth for drug retailers came in sales of cold/allergy/sinus liquids, which generated $19.4 million in incremental sales in drug stores. New items, such as McNeil's Children's Tylenol Plus liquids, drummed up almost $9 million in new sales this season, and Mucinex from Adams Laboratories added an additional $7 million in cough-cold sales to drug store coffers with its long-acting cough expectorant, guaifenesin.

Cold liquids are trending hotter than usual this year, according to McNeil Consumer spokeswoman Ami Schmitz-Levine. Traditionally, the category skews 80 percent cold tablet sales and 20 percent cold liquid sales. That stands to reason, as taste has long been an issue in liquids. Consumers generally prefer a flavorless tablet versus a harsher, medicine-tasting syrup. (On a somewhat related note, McNeil is making flavor a deciding factor in the cold/sinus tablet segment, as well, behind the launch of Tylenol Sinus Severe Congestion tablets, which are coated with mint for a flash of flavor before swallowing.)

However, liquids have been trending up 41 percent this season compared with an increase in tablet sales of only 21 percent, Schmitz-Levine said. Given this year's flu epidemic--compounded by the vaccine shortage, which many suggested was ineffective on this year's flu strain--and the common belief among many consumers that liquid products like TheraFlu and DayQuil/NyQuil are more effective in fighting more severe symptoms, this is not surprising, she explained. According to McNeil data, in the month of December, sales of products specifically addressing flu symptoms were up 73 percent this season, compared with a 27percent increase in cold remedy sales.

That being said, this season was a good one for new cold liquid introductions. This season has seen two major launches: Tylenol Nighttime--which is alcohol-free, an important point of differentiation versus NyQuil--and Bristol-Myers Squibb's new Comtrex liquid line, which launched in September.

Despite the increased competition, the No. 1 liquid cold remedy still dominated sales. Procter & Gamble's Vicks NyQuil still managed to grow drug store sales 21 percent on a rather mature base of $17.2 million. The lift was sizeable, enough to show up on P&G s bottom line for the fourth quarter. "The severe cold/flu season contributed to higher sales of Vicks NyQuil and DayQuil products, which helped drive overall growth in [P&G's] health care [business unit]," remarked Smith Barney analyst Wendy Nicholson.

Another notable product launch this past season included Combe's Cepacol Citrus Lozenge. Cepacol throat drops grew 78 percent for the 12 weeks ended Dec. 28, reaching sales of $3.1 million in drug stores--more than $1 million of which was incremental new business.

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