Who are IMS HEALTH?
IMS HEALTH is the world's largest supplier of market information and business solutions to the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, and has been in the business for 50 years. We have operations in over 100 countries world-wide and had an annual turnover of over $1.4 billion in 2002. For more information visit our corporate site at www.imshealth.com. 
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How much data does IMS collect?
We collect detailed data on 70 percent of prescriptions dispensed worldwide and 90 percent of U.S. pharmaceutical sales, from 29,000 data suppliers at 225,000 different supplier sites. In the course of each month our data base tracks over one million products from more that 3,000 drug manufacturers. Our computer center processes more than one billion transactions monthly. back
What do you mean by "IMS HEALTH Audited Sales"?
IMS HEALTH pharmaceutical audits for individual countries serve as the main source of comparative sales data on the pharmaceutical industry. The audits are continuous, periodic market surveys based on statistically representative samples, the data from which provides regional and national estimates. In the major countries, the pharmaceutical audits incorporate transaction data from wholesalers, giving rise to a near-census of the retail market. back
Where does the data for IMS audits come from?
The huge breadth of information brought together in this service is gathered from several sources then linked, collated, checked, verified and edited.
Sales Data
Each country audit records the data according to local requirements. Therefore the way data is collected and held will vary from country to country. In the European countries and the USA, the majority of pharmaceuticals are dispensed or sold mainly through retail pharmacies and drug stores. Thus sampling at the retail pharmacy level in such countries will represent a major proportion of the total market.
The audits provide a comprehensive record of purchases of pharmaceuticals in each country. A number of retail pharmacies and wholesalers are chosen for sampling (sample size) and sales data is collected by IMS HEALTH on a regular basis. This data is then projected to estimate sales for the total number of retail pharmacies in a country (referred to as the universe). With some variation in each country, the sales estimates shown represent direct and indirect purchases by retail pharmacies from pharmaceutical wholesalers and manufacturers.
It should be noted that, whilst IMS HEALTH data is the most comprehensive source available to monitor sales through retail channels, some products are more widely distributed and used in a hospital or clinic environment (e.g. oncology, diagnostic or specialist anti-infective treatments). For such products, IMS HEALTH retailer-based audits do not provide comprehensive coverage, and supplementary data sources will be required to project these data to a total universe for these specialist products. Contact us for more information.
R&D Drug Information
The R&D editorial team works closely with companies and relies on their feedback to obtain up-to-date information.
Their activities are as follows:
- Asking companies to update information we have on drugs in their pipeline
- Carrying out company interviews, using drug-specific questionnaires
- Reviewing press releases and annual reports
- Attending scientific conferences
- Participating in analyst briefings
- Establishing IMS HEALTH local links with companies
- Attending company R&D days
- Attending company investor conferences
- Reviewing journals, posters and conference abstracts
- Collating regulatory data from the various regulatory agencies such as the US FDA, EU EMEA and the Japanese NHI
Patent Information
Patent information compiled by IMS HEALTH emanates from official patent documentation relating to projects in development, either a patent application or a granted patent document. The IMS HEALTH patent experts work closely with CAS (Chemical Abstract Services) to maintain up-to-date records within the service.
Our experts are also in close contact with patent attorneys at local country levels and work with official patent journals to ensure that the latest amendments to the patent laws are reflected in Patent Focus.
Secondary resources, such as the Orange Book, official country patent journals, online and internet services are also monitored by the team to update information in areas such as patent legal status, lapsing, granting, extensions, SPCs, pediatric exclusivities, marketing exclusivities, and orphan drug status.
Non-numeric Company Information
A team of in-house editors use their in-depth knowledge of the healthcare industry and their diverse backgrounds in medicine, pharmacology, chemistry and languages to provide critical analyses of a company's business strategies.
Internal and external sources of information are utilized to build up the most comprehensive picture of the key companies on the market today. back
What do you base your forecasts on?
Full details relevant to each country market are collected from a wide variety of information sources. These include:
- IMS HEALTH publications and MIDAS database
- Various government reports and statistical yearbooks
- Special studies and position papers from international healthcare agencies, consumer groups and other organizations
- Industry publications and databases
- Official trade statistics
The figures given in a report don't match our internal figures. Why is this?
While IMS HEALTH has the widest international coverage available, we do not track every single sale through every channel in every country. The most important thing to do is check you are comparing like with like. IMS HEALTH figures may differ from internal company figures because of incomplete channel coverage, exchange rates, projected vs. actual purchases, warehouse cycles, stocking up, lag time, royalties, or parallel imports. back
Can I look for other information on the pharmaceutical sector?
Certainly. We cover a vast range of pharmaceutical market information. Just contact us at Area Marketing and we will find the best solution to your needs. back
Are "therapy areas" and "therapy classes" the same as diseases or indications?
No. Therapy areas are a way of classifying products, not diseases. Products in one therapy area could be used to treat several different diseases, or a disease could be treated by several products, each one from a different therapy area. back
How are product sales classified into different therapeutic areas?
IMS HEALTH international data uses the Anatomical Therapeutic Classification (ATC) standard. It is a way of grouping, and therefore a way to look at, similar products. At its broadest level the system classifies products according to the parts of the body that they are used to treat. At the lower levels it uses therapeutic use, indication, mode of action, pharmacology, etc. to define sub groups. Classes consist of a description and/or code. It is used in IMS HEALTH audits throughout the world.
The Anatomical Therapeutic Classification Guidelines were originally prepared by the EPhMRA (European Pharmaceutical Market Research Association) Classification Committee and are being continually updated to take into account developments in therapy treatment. IMS HEALTH has worked with this committee since June 1975.
The primary objective of Anatomical Therapeutic Classification is to satisfy the marketing needs of companies which are engaged in researching the pharmaceutical industry. Products are mainly classified according to their indications and use. Therefore it is possible to find the same compound in several classes, e.g. ibuprofen can be classified in M1A (Anti-rheumatic), N2B (Analgesic) and G2C if indicated for gynecological conditions only. back
How do you deal with products when they may have different brand names in different countries?
The International Product was devised by IMS HEALTH to enable customers to evaluate sales of a product internationally, even if the product is known by different trade names in different countries.
Products are linked internationally if at least two of the following three characteristics are the same as in the country of first launch:
- brand name
- marketing corporation
- active ingredients
| Country | Product | Active Ingredient | Marketing Corporation |
| USA | KEFLEX | Cefalexin | Lilly |
| KEFYAB | Cefalexin | Lilly | |
| Japan | KEFLEX | Cefalexin | Shionogi |
| UK | KEFLEX | Cefalexin | Lilly |
| Germany | ORACEF | Cefalexin | Thomae |
In the USA, Japan and UK the product name and active ingredient are the same, hence all these products satisfy the "two-out-of-three" rule, and are linked to the international product KEFLEX.
It will be noted that ORACEF, which contains the active ingredient Cefalexin, does NOT at first glance satisfy the "two-out-of-three" rule, but since ORACEF is a trademark belonging to the product originator, Lilly, the product is linked to the international product KEFLEX. back
How does IMS evaluate the reliability of the information provided?
Our pharmaceutical clients expect 100 percent accuracy and that's what we try to deliver. The advantage of collecting data from so many different sources of information is you can cross-check it. A lot of the intellectual property that IMS has developed over the last 50 years of being in business is how to accumulate that data, collate it and take out all the duplications and check the accuracy. We have systems that look for spikes in the data, systems that highlight to our team that something should be looked at, that there has been a significant change. When we see big aberrations in the data we can go back to the source and check it out. back
How do IMS analysts use that data to identify and examine trends, make meaningful comparisons and forecast developments in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries?
Much of it is experience-based. We have people who understand the pharmaceutical market in the 100 countries in which we do business. We have experts in specific disease classes, we have experts on specific countries like the German market or the U.K. market, we have experts on the research and development pipeline. We have built skills around the key things our customers really want us to help them with. That's not just accumulating the data, but understanding the data and helping them decide what business decision the data tells them to make. That's been a big transformation for us over the past three years, going from just being a provider of all that information to providing the skills and analytics around that data. back
Can IMS track a specific drug from the development stage, through regulatory approval and product launch and all the way to an individual end-user?
Yes. We try to get involved with customers in the R&D investment phases by providing services around their developing a new chemical entity. What's going to be competing with it in the marketplace? What's the efficacy of that customer's product versus what we think will be in the market at that time? How big is that market? So we do a lot of that work pre-launch. As we get into the launch of a product, we do launch-tracking. Then our real value to the customer is helping them improve the returns on that product at all points in the cycle from launch to managing the brand and all the way through until it starts to go into off-patent. Then we help them maximize that return. back
How does IMS remain objective in analyzing data from companies that are also its customers?
I think that one reason people look to a single source like IMS for this information is they like to have one single version of the truth. You don't want everybody putting together their own information and biasing it to their specific area or changing the definition of the market. Ours is a fact-based methodology. It really is just the facts. We will, if you choose, help you interpret those facts. It's that objectivity and the fact that we aren't tied to any single pharma company. We aren't owned by a managed care organization. All those things give us the position of independence that's necessary. back
How has the evolution of information technology affected the way IMS provides its services to its customers?
We've come a long way from our early days when we had people at the pharmacies making photocopies of prescriptions. In some countries, it hasn't come as far as we'd like. But in the major markets the biggest change is the fact that we can collect the information much faster today. We can provide daily data. The real question is what does the customer do with daily information? You can get very aberrant things happening in daily activity. Most of what they want is weekly, monthly, quarterly information. We can get it sooner and higher quality, because it is provided by telecommunications as opposed to paper or even tapes.
The other great change is that we web-enabled all of our offerings. All our services are available electronically, web-based, and we've increasingly invested so that you don't have to be a market research expert to be able to use them. back
How have you addressed security issues regarding the great amount of corporate and private data you collect?
We invest a lot in data security and data privacy. Compared to just about any other company in the world, I think we spend more resources and time on these topics than anyone. Regarding privacy, all the data we get about patients is anonymous. We never identify a specific patient. When they get to us, they are anonymous. That is critically important with regard to the privacy legislation in the U.S. and other countries. In markets in Europe, including Germany, identifying an individual doctor is not allowed by the privacy regulations. We do our own internal audits managing privacy issues. We are probably unique for an organization of our size in that we have a chief privacy officer in each of the major regions of the world. We pull them together in a global privacy council to ensure we are in a position of leadership involving public policy issues and to make sure we are delivering what we promise. That focus is critical to our customers and certainly to our business. And our data center is world class. back
How do I contact someone if I need technical help with the IMS products?
For all technical inquiries, please send us an email or contact your local Account Manager. back
How can I provide feedback about the Web site?
We welcome your comments and suggestions for improving our Web site. Please contact Area Marketing to send us your feedback. back
How do I apply for a position at IMS Health?
The best way to get your résumé in front of the right IMS recruiter is to use our on-line Career Center. If you are in the US, we have an on-line resume submission application. If you are outside of the US, please direct your inquiry to the recruiting office in the region of your choice. back