Record Breaking! India Sells Over 350 Crore Dolo Tablets Since COVID-19 Outbreak

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Record Breaking! India Sells Over 350 Crore Dolo Tablets Since COVID-19 Outbreak

If all 350 crore tablets are stacked together vertically, it is almost 6,000 times as tall as Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain peak or nearly 63,000 times as high as the world’s tallest building Burj Khalifa.

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Dolo 650 has become the 'most consumed' tablet in India for the last one year.

The country has sold more than 350 crore tablets of anti-fever medicine since the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020, data shows.

Sales Doubled In 2020 And 2021

Pushed by fever, one of the most common symptoms of COVID-19, the sales of the oval-shaped white pill has doubled in 2020 and 2021, while paracetamol tablets are the most consumed medicines for cold and fever.

If all 350 crore tablets are stacked together vertically, it is almost 6,000 times as tall as Mount Everest, the world's highest mountain peak, or nearly 63,000 times as high as the world's tallest building Burj Khalifa.

Since the onset of the pandemic, Dolo, a 1.5 cm-long pill, was sold much more than the go-to paracetamol tablet, Crocin, News18 reported.

As per the data of research firm IQVIA, India sold nearly 7.5 crore strips of Dolo tablets before the COVID-19 outbreak in 2019.

The first wave of the pandemic started in India around March 2020, whereas the devastating second wave, which registered most deaths, hit the country in May 2021. With the overall cases accounting for more than 3.5 crore, over 350 crore tablets of Dolo were sold in 2020 and 2021.

Dolo is currently the second most sold anti-fever and analgesic tablet in India with a turnover of Rs 307 crore last year, whereas GSK's Calpol is just a notch above it with a turnover of Rs 310 crore. Crocin is the sixth-largest in this category, with double-digit sales of Rs 23.6 crore.

Most Googled Medicine

Not just in terms of sales, Dolo also became the most-googled medicine in the country. In fact, Dolo 650 was the most-searched keyword in Google, with around 2 lakh searches since the COVID outbreak. Even Calpol was no match for Dolo 650 in this category.

In 2019, the sales of all brands under the paracetamol category were nearly Rs 530 crore. Category sales zoomed by 70 per cent, and by 2021, they have touched Rs 924 crore.

Paracetamol, a generic salt, which is a common painkiller used to treat aches and reduce high body temperature, has been on the market since the 1960s.

Crocin or Dolo or Calpol – these are various brand names given by pharma companies selling the same salt, paracetamol, under their copyright brand name.

One-Stop Solution

Dolo is termed as a one-stop solution for everything — be it fever, body ache, headache, or toothache.

However, Dolo's fame is not new-found. "In 2010, Dolo 650 was awarded as the best-managed brand. It was subsequently recognised as India's most admired brand followed by other recognitions," a veteran representing a lobby of pharma companies in India said, according to News18.

The first reason doctors, brand experts, and industry veterans share is its short and crisp brand name. It is simpler to pronounce than other brands such as Pyrigesic, Pacimol, Fepanil, and Paracip.

Another reason is its entry into the 650 milligram (MG) category and perception that it is more effective on fever due to unknown illnesses.

Founded in 1973, Bengaluru-based Micro labs and maker of brand Dolo, relaunched the product highlighting that it contained 650 mg of paracetamol, while the rest had 500 mg. The medicine became famous as "Dolo-650".

Brand experts and industry veterans said that the company encashed on clinical evidence that 650 mg gave superior pain relief than 500 mg.

The pharma brand specialist, Vivek Hattangadi, said that Micro Labs also started a series of Continuing Medical Education (CME) programmes for doctors on 'Pyrexia of unknown origin' under the Micro Knowledge Academy.

"The brand became synonymous with fever due to many unknown reasons. Any kind of fever and doctor will prescribe Dolo-650," he said.

Crocin First Brand To Be Launched Under Paracetamol

Hattangadi said that Crocin was the first brand to be launched under the paracetamol category.

Late GM Masurkar, the head of the sales and promotion team of drug maker Crookes Interfran, launched the brand.

In the late 1990s, the company sold its popular analgesic brand Crocin to Smithkline Beecham Pharmaceuticals, which was later merged with Glaxo Wellcome – currently known as GSK (GlaxoSmithKline).

"Glaxo already had Calpol, but it was a weak brand as compared to Crocin. While the latter was made an OTC brand, the former remained a prescription brand," Hattangadi said.

Also Read: Wealth Of India's Top 10 Richest Can Fund Education Of Every Child For 25 Years: Study


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