U.S. drug sales beginning to weaken

NEW YORK, NY, United States (UPI) -- Drug company sales are sliding amidst growing distrust of the U.S. industry, The New York Times reported Monday.
'A lot of the demand that the industry has created over the years has been through promotion, and for that promotion to be effective, there has to be trust,' said Richard Evans, an analyst covering drug stocks at money manager Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. 'That trust has been lost.'
Although the number of prescriptions are rising, an increasing proportion of that increase is going to generic drugs, which have regained some luster in the wake of controversy over some blockbuster medicines like Vioxx.
Meanwhile, nimble and aggressive biotechs like Genentech are taking the lead in finding new treatments for cancer, a promising and lucrative field.