Panic over the Sars outbreak has boosted sales of anti-flu drugs and health supplements at pharmaceutical firms.
Far East Pharmaceutical Technology expects its first-quarter sales of anti-flu products to double the HK$30 million achieved in the same period last year.
Another company, Tianjin TEDA Biomedical Engineering, also said demand for its health supplements was strong.
Analysts said the spread of Sars in Hong Kong, southern China and Beijing had stimulated sales of Chinese and Western medicine this year.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, retail sales for Chinese and Western medicine rose 12.3 per cent year on year in the first two months of the year.
Far East Pharmaceutical managing director Barton Tso Mingsing said sales of one of its anti-flu drugs reached HK$10 million last month, compared with about HK$3 million over the same period last year.
