China’s hepatitis B virus market will grow to nearly $900 million in 2015
Decision Resources forecasts that the hepatitis B virus (HBV) market in China will grow from $601 million in 2010 to nearly $900 million in 2015. According to the Emerging Markets report, Hepatitis B Virus in China, despite an increase in the drug-treated patient population that will expand the HBV market in China, low affordability of HBV therapies will limit its growth.
Low affordability of HBV therapies hinders both treatment rates and compliance. For example, the total cost of two-year therapy with GlaxoSmithKline’s Heptodin is about 1.4 times that of a rural Chinese resident’s income and 41 percent of an urban resident’s income. Meanwhile, the total course of peg-IFN-2a therapy is about 6.7 times that of a rural Chinese resident’s income and two times that of an urban resident’s income.
“In urban areas, high copayments and out-of-pocket expenses severely undermine patient compliance,†said Decision Resources Analyst Jing Wu, MS, MBA. “In rural areas, although insurance coverage continues to expand to include reimbursement of more available HBV therapies, increasing HBV patient access to basic treatments, it probably will not provide the extent of drug cost reimbursement needed to expand the overall HBV therapeutic market in these areas.â€
Despite these hurdles, the report notes that opportunities for Western HBV drug brands do exist as the emergence of the affluent middle and upper classes, who have greater spending power, will drive the desire for more-efficacious but higher-priced Western medicines.
“Chinese physicians and patients prefer branded Western medicines to domestically manufactured products, but to be competitive, Western pharmaceutical manufacturers must price their drugs competitively compared to the Chinese formulations of their products,†added Wu.
The new report features extensive primary research with Chinese gastroenterologists, hepatologists and infectious disease specialists as well as a market outlook through 2015.
