China's Hepatitis B Virus Drug Market Will Grow to $800 Million by 2012
WALTHAM, Mass., Aug. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms focusing on pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that the Chinese hepatitis B virus drug market will 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 percent annual growth of the total market.
According to the new Emerging Markets report entitled Hepatitis B Virus in China, 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. Because 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.
"Increasing economic prosperity in China and improvements in health insurance coverage has increased patients' ability to afford expensive Western branded drugs," said Victor Li, Ph.D., analyst at Decision Resources. "The shift to use more expensive Western branded drugs, particularly newer agents such as Bristol-Myers Squibb's Baraclude, Roche's Pegasys and Schering-Plough's Pegintron, will contribute significantly to the expansion of the hepatitis B market in China."
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.
EMERGING MARKETS REPORTS
The Ultimate Analysis of Pharmaceutical Markets in China and India
Decision Resources is the FIRST and ONLY company to offer a syndicated report series for high-growth emerging markets with comprehensive disease-specific analysis. Each report assesses the commercial opportunity in the pharmaceutical market for a disease based on population demographics, economic development, disease epidemiology and changing physicians' practices.
The reports can be purchased by contacting Decision Resources. Members of the media may request an interview with an analyst and are welcome to attend our upcoming webinar entitled Hepatitis B in China and India: Market Strategies for Success. The webinar will be held on Tuesday, September 9, 2008 at 10 a.m. EDT. For more information, please contact Natalia Morales at 781.296.2691 or e-mail at nmorales@dresources.com .
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