Sea Change In China’s Anti-Cancer Market Shares
This article was originally published in PharmAsia News
Executive Summary
China's hospitals are increasingly turning to alkaloid products such as paclitaxel and docetaxel to treat cancer while immunostimulant anti-cancer products see a decline in use, despite owning the largest market share
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China's hospitals are increasingly turning to alkaloid products such as paclitaxel and docetaxel to treat cancer while immunostimulant anti-cancer products see a decline in use, despite owning the largest market share. According to a report on China's anti-cancer market by Draco Healthcare Consulting, immunostimulant drugs such as thymopolypeptides and recombinant human granular cell stimulating factor products have lost market share since 2004, dropping from 40.08 percent to 30.45 percent in 2007. Meanwhile, alkaloid-type drugs, which represent the second-leading category in terms of market share, have hovered around 22 percent market share from 2004 to 2007. In particular, sales of alkaloid drug docetaxel have risen quickly, and the drug has captured 7.03 percent of China's anti-cancer drug market in 2007, up from 4.47 percent in 2004. The report estimates Sanofi-Aventis' Taxotere and docetaxel generics will continue to see strong sales growth. Also, Draco Healthcare anticipates that the raw material market for docetaxel will increase due to a higher production utilization rate of docetaxel raw materials than that of paclitaxel. Sanofi is in the midst of a patent battle, now appealing a ruling by the Patent Re-examination Board of China's State Intellectual Property Office, which invalidated the company's docetaxel patent (Also see "Sanofi-Aventis Set To Appeal Invalidation Of Drug Patent In China" - Scrip, 22 May, 2008.). Jiangsu Hengrui, which filed the complaint to invalidate Sanofi's patent, owns 41.2 percent of the docetaxel market, compared to Sanofi's 28.51 percent share. Docetaxel appears to be gaining market share on paclitaxel, the second-most prescribed anti-cancer drug in China, which saw its anti-cancer market share drop from 8.14 percent in 2006 to 7.3 percent in 2007. Sanofi's Eloxatin (oxaliplatin) and generics hold fourth position in terms of China's anti-cancer market share, and the report expects sales of platinum-based drugs such as oxaliplatin will continue to rise, although "due to the high price tag associated with oxaliplatin, the market growth will be limited to certain degrees in China." Like docetaxel, Jiangsu Hengrui's generic version of oxaliplatin maintained a larger share of the drug's market. However, Sanofi retook the market lead in 2007 with 39.1 percent market share to Jiangsu Hengrui's 37.04 percent share. Sanofi is taking steps to expand its oncology market footprint in China. The French company announced plans in 2007 to collaborate with Tianjin's Institute of Hematology and Blood Diseases Hospital to develop monoclonal antibodies for acute myeloid leukemia stem cells (Also see "Sanofi-Aventis To Work With Chinese Experts In Cancer Stem-Cell Research" - Scrip, 24 Sep, 2007.). The report notes that the top-five cancer drugs held 40.87 percent of the anti-cancer drug market in 2006 but dropped to 38.31 percent in 2007, which Draco Healthcare sees as an indication that "China's anti-cancer drug market is not dominated by any specific drugs and market concentration is not high." - Daniel Poppy ([email protected]) [Editor's note: Draco Healthcare Consulting and FDC-Windhover jointly publish a series of china drug reports on drug utilization in China's hospital markets. To purchase a copy of "China Anti-Cancer Drug Market Report 2008," click here.] |