New Trend of Multinational Pharmaceutical Companies in China? AstraZeneca Fully Enters Chinese Medicine

01 AstraZeneca Overweight Chinese Medicine

Recently, at the 2022 annual meeting of the Boao Forum for Asia, Chengdu and the participating company AstraZeneca held an online signing ceremony for AstraZeneca's traditional Chinese medicine innovation industry base, marking the official settlement of AstraZeneca's innovation base in the field of traditional Chinese medicine.

This is also another important attempt in the traditional Chinese medicine industry after AstraZeneca and Luye Group reached the promotion cooperation of Xuezhikang.

On April 27, AstraZeneca China told Cyberlane that the cooperation with Chengdu High-tech Zone to build a traditional Chinese medicine innovation industry base will help AstraZeneca focus on the modernization and innovative development of traditional Chinese medicine, and promote the exchange of international experience.

According to public information, the base will feature the modernized industry of traditional Chinese medicine, relying on academicians and experts to lead scientific research transformation and industrial development, and build a one-stop Chinese medicine incubation industry empowerment platform in the west, including new research and development institutions with academicians and experts as the core, Modern and innovative Chinese medicine industry service platform, one-stop Chinese medicine clinical research and development transformation platform and Chinese medicine modern business platform.

AstraZeneca China told Cyberblue that the Chinese patent medicine CRO-Guangzhou Hybert Company, led by Tigermed, is the co-builder of the park's strategic cooperation. AstraZeneca and Hybert will cooperate to create clinical research, evidence-based medicine and Real-world research top-level design, clinical project operation and other full-chain one-stop services, focusing on creating the first real-world research benchmark case for the modernization of traditional Chinese medicine.

In 2019, AstraZeneca announced that it had signed an agreement with Luye Pharma Group, officially announcing that it had obtained the exclusive right to promote Xuezhikang capsules in mainland China. This is the first time that a large multinational pharmaceutical company has been granted the right to promote innovative Chinese patent medicines independently developed by Chinese pharmaceutical companies in China.

Participating in the construction of the traditional Chinese medicine innovation industry base this time, it can be seen that AstraZeneca is no longer satisfied with only participating in the promotion of Chinese patent medicines, but has gone further into the research and development process of Chinese patent medicines.

However, AstraZeneca China told Cyberblue that at the same time, its business platform will continue to look for the next Chinese medicine product to carry out comprehensive commercial agency cooperation, and further lay out the incubation of key Chinese medicine varieties. AstraZeneca plans to introduce more high-quality Chinese patent medicines in the therapeutic areas that AstraZeneca is deeply engaged in, such as heart failure, stroke, and chronic kidney disease.

02 Multinational pharmaceutical companies have deployed the traditional Chinese medicine industry

In fact, AstraZeneca is not the first multinational pharmaceutical company to deploy the traditional Chinese medicine industry. According to reports, GSK, Sanofi, and Boehringer Ingelheim have also been involved in the traditional Chinese medicine industry.

As early as 2010, Boehringer Ingelheim stated that it may enter the field of proprietary Chinese medicines through mergers and acquisitions.

In 2014, Boehringer Ingelheim and GPHL reached a cooperation to promote the Children's Qixing Tea Syrup under GPHL; in 2015, Boehringer Ingelheim announced that its first OTC product of Chinese patent medicine, Le Ketong, was officially launched.

Industry insiders believe that multinational pharmaceutical companies entering traditional Chinese medicine are mainly to seek breakthroughs in performance growth under the background of the approaching product patent cliff and the increased performance pressure of volume purchases.

In addition, Shen Yong, chairman of Beijing Shengshikanglai Traditional Chinese Medicine Marketing Planning Company, told Cyberland that in fact, multinational pharmaceutical companies and the traditional Chinese medicine industry have long been inextricably linked. After foreign pharmaceutical companies first promoted the concept of "improving microcirculation" with ginkgo biloba, "the fragrance inside the wall blooms outside the wall", and then there are high-quality ginkgo biloba capsules, Shuxuening and other local Chinese patent medicine companies such as Kangenbei and Yangzijiang. The relevant market capacity of Ginkgo biloba-type Chinese patent medicine products is also increasing.

From a practical point of view, in recent years, my country has increasingly supported the Chinese medicine industry. Especially after the promulgation of the "Chinese Medicine Law" in 2017, Chinese patent medicine products enjoy certain policy dividends in market competition, and the market potential of Chinese patent medicine is great. , itself is also attractive to multinational pharmaceutical companies.

On December 30, 2021, the National Medical Insurance Administration and the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine issued the "Guiding Opinions on Medical Insurance Supporting the Inheritance, Innovation and Development of Traditional Chinese Medicine"; on March 29 this year, the General Office of the State Council issued the "14th Five-Year Plan" The pharmaceutical development plan defines the goals, tasks and key measures for the development of traditional Chinese medicine during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, and supports traditional Chinese medicine as always.

From the results, multinational pharmaceutical companies have certain advantages in developing the traditional Chinese medicine industry, and have achieved corresponding results.

According to data, since AstraZeneca China obtained the exclusive promotion right of Xuezhikang in 2019, by the end of 2021, Xuezhikang has achieved a growth of nearly 120%, and its share in the overall statin and lipid-lowering Chinese patent medicine market has increased from 1.3%. % climbed to 5.6%, making it the third largest lipid-lowering brand.

Shen Yong pointed out that multinational pharmaceutical companies have financial advantages in the layout of the traditional Chinese medicine industry. It is a sales advantage, and the sales team of multinational pharmaceutical companies is relatively large; finally, multinational pharmaceutical companies also have the advantage of expert resources. Foreign-funded pharmaceutical companies have been operating in the Chinese drug market for many years, and have strong academic promotion capabilities. The degree of recognition is relatively high, so the recognition degree of promotion is relatively high.

03 Product selection is the key

For a long time, Chinese patent medicines have been controversial because the effectiveness and safety of most drugs have not been confirmed by sufficient clinical data, and the market development has also been hindered. After multinational pharmaceutical companies enter the traditional Chinese medicine industry, it is expected to further promote the modernization of traditional Chinese medicine, which will also help traditional Chinese medicine go abroad and develop internationally.

For example, Xuezhikang is reported to have been approved for listing in Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and Hong Kong. AstraZeneca said it will further apply for registration in many countries in the future.

However, for multinational pharmaceutical companies to develop the Chinese medicine industry, they still need to face competition with local Chinese medicine companies, and it is crucial to choose appropriate products.

AstraZeneca told Cyberspace that its requirements for partners and investment projects are multi-faceted, one of which is that the therapeutic area should be relevant and complementary to AstraZeneca.

Shen Yong pointed out that when multinational pharmaceutical companies choose traditional Chinese medicine-related investment projects, they may first prefer mature products, such as Liuwei Dihuang Pills market, Wuji Baifeng Pills, etc. Although the market for these well-known products is relatively mature and the market competition is fierce, the common people The recognition and acceptance of the product is also relatively high, and the market foundation is good.

Another product that is easily favored by foreign companies is the product with high technology content, such as the total alkaloid tablets of mulberry twig that was approved for marketing last year. Alkali tablets have a good hypoglycemic effect, and the product market capacity is also large. Similar products may also be another choice for foreign companies to enter the Chinese patent medicine market.

In addition to the emphasis on product selection, the promotion mode of foreign-funded enterprises entering the field of proprietary Chinese medicines should also be different from the previous promotion mode of chemical drugs.

First of all, the life cycle curve of a Chinese patent medicine product is different from that of a chemical drug product. Due to its clear composition and clear mechanism, the sales volume of chemical drugs often increases rapidly at the beginning, but the life cycle is relatively short, generally rarely exceeding 10 Years, very few have more than 20 years old, according to statistics, there are no more than 5 chemical drugs sold for more than 100 years;

Proprietary Chinese medicine is different. In the initial stage of product promotion, sales may grow slowly, but its life cycle is very long. Some medicines can be sold for 30, 50, or even 100, 200 years. For example, Wuji Baifeng Pills and Angong Niuhuang Pills are products that have been recognized by the market for hundreds of years.

Secondly, in terms of product promotion, chemical medicines and Chinese patent medicines also have different characteristics. The long-existing ingredients of Chinese patent medicines, the mechanism of action, and the theory of traditional Chinese medicine are "three unclear", which are difficult for Western medicine doctors to accept.

Therefore, if foreign-funded enterprises want to promote Chinese medicine well, even if they have huge financial strength and team advantages, they still need to systematically train their existing teams and build a marketing team that can "promote Chinese patent medicines".