The global demand for oseltamivir continues to rise, driving the demand for APIs

Oseltamivir was first synthesized in 1996 and obtained a US patent in February 1998. It was first launched in Sweden in October 1999 and then entered the Canadian, EU and US markets. It was approved for launch in China in 2002. Its target is neuraminidase. Neuraminidase inhibitors are effective against influenza A and B, and are used to treat uncomplicated influenza A and B infections. Influenza itself is highly contagious, spreads quickly, and has a relatively high incidence. In addition to the high incidence of domestic influenza in recent years, oseltamivir has been crowned the "magic drug" and has become a first-line drug, which has always attracted the attention of the pharmaceutical industry. Currently, the domestic market alone is close to 6.5 billion. In terms of overseas markets, the sales of oseltamivir overseas preparations from 2019.6-2020.6 were approximately US$900 million. Although it was down by more than 12% year-on-year, the consumption of its raw materials was around 47,118KG, up by more than 22% year-on-year. This shows that the global market demand for oseltamivir is still rising.

Product opportunity

In the past three years, about 60 different formulation manufacturers have marketed oseltamivir products in different dosage forms in more than 20 different countries around the world. The countries that choose to market are more South Korea, the United States, Puerto Rico, etc. The domestic manufacturers mainly include Sunshine, Shanghai Roche, Shanghai Zhongxi Sanwei, and other domestic companies have also submitted listing applications. In the future, competitors will continue to join, such as Xintai Pharmaceutical, Chengdu Better, and Borui Pharmaceuticals. At present, the domestic Dongyang Sunshine market accounts for more than 90%, occupying an absolute advantage.

Fierce API market competition

As the demand for oseltamivir APIs continues to rise, driven by the market, there is fierce competition among global API manufacturers, and several pharmaceutical industry giants have joined the API production industry.

For example, in addition to preparation manufacturers in China, there are also Eurasian Pharmaceuticals, Jiuzhou Kangda, etc. Foreign API manufacturers that have been commercialized are Cipla, hetero, MSN, InistST, Acebright, Kyongbo, Patheon, etc., mainly located in India and South Korea.