China’s hepatitis B virus drug market to grow to $800M by 2012

A new report From Decision Resources says competition from Chinese makers present considerable challenge to branded western drug companies seeking to penetrate the market.

Entitled “Hepatitis B Virus in China”, the report finds the Chinese hepatitis B virus drug market would more than double by 2012, from $340 million in 2007 to $800 million in 2012.

Both nucleoside/nucleotide analogues (NAs) and immunomodulators will experience strong double-digit growth, contributing to a robust 18% annual growth of the total market.

The greatest contributor to the growth of the Chinese hepatitis B drug market is the sheer size and nature of the epidemic in China - approximately 80 million Chinese people have chronic hepatitis B.

As treatment with nucleoside/nucleotide analogues is typically long-term (in many cases, lifelong), even steady diagnosis and drug-treatment rates would generate sizable near-term growth in this market.

Government-sponsored improvements to the healthcare system and increasing economic prosperity among the Chinese population have also added to this market growth.

The new report also finds that competition from Chinese makers present a considerable challenge to branded Western drug companies seeking to penetrate China's hepatitis B market.

Although Chinese-manufactured drugs are generally regarded as inferior to Western branded drugs, many have achieved brand name status among physicians-for example, Tianjin Institute of Pharmaceutical Research's Dai Ding (adefovir) has even higher market share for hepatitis B in China than GlaxoSmithKline's Hepsera.

However, Chinese physicians and patients prefer branded Western medicines over Chinese-manufactured products.

Western pharmaceutical manufacturers whose price premiums are competitive with the prices of Chinese formulations of their products may prevent massive erosion of their market share.