SIC 5122 Drugs, Drug Proprietaries, and Druggists' Sundries

SIC 5122

This industry classification includes establishments engaged in the wholesale distribution of items such as prescription drugs, proprietary drugs, druggists' sundries, and toiletries. Products handled by industry participants include antiseptics, bandages, blood plasma, cosmetics, hair preparations, perfumes, pharmaceuticals, nonelectric razors and razor blades, toothbrushes, and vitamins. Establishments primarily involved in the wholesale distribution of surgical, dental, and hospital equipment are included in SIC 5047: Medical, Dental, and Hospital Equipment and Supplies.

NAICS CODE(S)

422210

Drugs, Drug Proprietaries, and Druggists' Sundries Wholesalers

In 2006 the total number of establishments engaged in this industry was 10,418. These companies employed 141,177 workers and posted sales of approximately $350 billion that year. The average sales per establishment was about $39.4 million. States with the highest establishments were California with 1,715, New York with 1,003, and Florida with 933.

Product categories within the industry that generated the largest sales were, first, by a wide margin, pharmaceuticals, with more than $111 billion, followed by cosmetics, perfumes, and hair products with $11 billion, and third, drugs and drug proprietors with sales of more than $8.3 billion.

According to U.S. government predictions, demand for pharmaceuticals was "insensitive" to the national economy, meaning that fluctuations in the country's overall business climate had little impact on demand for the industry's products. National concern over rapidly rising costs, however, was mounting and bringing change to traditional distribution patterns. Price increases, which marked the early to mid-1990s, were beginning to slow during the final years of the decade.

The Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) mandated drug manufacturers to place bar codes on all drugs dispensed in hospitals as a means of reducing medication errors. The FDA required manufacturers to put bar codes on individual doses as early as 2006. The labels were expected to prevent 413,000 medication errors through the 2020s.

Drug merchants maintain their own websites where they offer pharmaceutical and laboratory products, as well as health related information services. The U.S. Department of Commerce reported in 2004 that drugs and sundries wholesalers' online sales rose 24 percent, or $19 billion, and their overall sales rose...