Recently, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released the 15th edition of the Carcinogen Report, and chronic infection of Helicobacter pylori is listed as a clear carcinogen. Or affected by this news, on January 6, a number of A-share concept stocks involving the detection, treatment and prevention of Helicobacter pylori rose sharply. In addition to biological, pharmaceutical and health food companies, food and beverage companies involved in the research and development of "anti-yu" probiotic products such as SDIC Zhonglu, JuneYao Health, and Ketuo Biology are also among them.
Combined with the infection rate of Helicobacter pylori and the size of the probiotic market, the "anti-yu" probiotic industry seems to have broad prospects, and some companies on the market have launched "Qingyou bacteria" and "anti-yu bacteria" products. However, in the view of experts in the medical community and experts in the field of probiotics, probiotics currently play a more auxiliary role in the clinical treatment of Helicobacter pylori, and the role in the eradication rate is not too large, and the industrial prospects and commercial value of "anti-yu" probiotics may not be as big as the stock secondary market expects.
Helicobacter pylori concept stock goes "red"
On the evening of January 6, JuneYao Health and Ketuo Bio, which touched the stock limit, both issued abnormal stock trading announcements. Among them, juneyao health from January 4 to January 6 for three consecutive trading days of closing price increase deviation of more than 20%, Ketuo Bio January 5, January 6 for two consecutive trading days of the closing price increase deviation of more than 30%.
JuneYao Health said in the announcement that it has paid attention to the recent discussion about the company's involvement in the field of Helicobacter pylori, and the company's main business is still lactic acid bacteria drinks, and chewable tablets and drinks involving the field of Helicobacter pylori are still in the product input stage. As of the first three quarters of 2021, the revenue of the above products accounted for less than 5% of the company's revenue, and the impact on performance was very small.
Ketuo Bio mentioned the company's research and development of anti-Yu probiotics in the relevant announcement and the investor relations activity table released on January 10. Ketuo Bio said that the company found that the concept of Helicobacter pylori had recently been reported in the public media, which made the A-share secondary market pay more attention to this concept. In recent years, the company has conducted scientific experiments and clinical verification of the anti-Helicobacter pylori efficacy of some core strains, and is applying for relevant patents, but there are uncertainties in the experimental results and whether the patent application can be authorized, so investors should pay attention to the risks.
In addition to JuneYao Health and Ketuo Biologics, a number of Helicobacter pylori concept stocks are involved in the probiotic industry, such as Azure Biology, SDIC Zhonglu, Jiaoda Onlly and so on. Among them, Azure Biology and the world's top 500 companies ADM set up a joint venture company for human probiotics; Jiaoda Onlly had launched the "Onlly Super Gram Yu Probiotic Powder", but it is no longer produced; juice company SDIC Zhonglu said in response to investors' questions last year that the company is studying the inhibition of Helicobacter pylori type probiotic fermentation yacon products for long-term technical reserves.
In response to the US Department of Health and Human Services' list of Helicobacter pylori as a clear carcinogen, Ausnutria's Pennant Biological Group also recently released PRONULIFE GASPROTECT probiotic products, calling it "Anti-Helicobacter pylori Probiotic Solution", which can provide "one-stop nanny service" from raw materials to finished products.
"Anti-bacterium" products appear on the market
Helicobacter pylori, commonly referred to as "Helicobacter pylori", is a pathogenic bacteria parasitic in the stomach, and is closely related to many daily diseases, such as peptic ulcer, chronic gastritis, indigestion, gastric cancer and so on. According to the "Investigation study on the correlation between Helicobacter pylori infection rates and different environmental factors", Helicobacter pylori is reported to exceed 50% of natural bacterial infections worldwide. The 2001-2014 national Helicobacter pylori survey showed that the infection rate of Helicobacter pylori in China was between 40% and 90%, with an average of 59%.
According to Euromonitor International data, the global probiotic market value in 2019 is about 40 billion euros, the average annual growth rate of China's probiotic market is about 15%, and the market size is expected to be close to 90 billion yuan in 2022. In the industry's view, probiotics are expected to become the next 100 billion-level health market. Under this attraction, in recent years, Yili, Mengniu, Bright Dairy, Junlebao, Ausnutria, Jianhe Group, JuneYao Health and other food companies have entered the market across borders.
Combined with the above data, the "anti-yu" probiotic industry seems to have broad prospects. Ausnutria, which has a probiotic business, told the Beijing News that the data shows that about 1 in every 2 people in China carries Hp, and there is a phenomenon of family gathering and transmission. Such a high infection rate means that the market space for screening and treatment is huge. At present, anti-gastric Helicobacter pylori or gastric health care probiotic products have gradually moved towards the stage of mature probiotic industrialization, while the domestic "anti-yu" probiotic research and development and industrial application is still in the early stages, in this segment of the field of deep ploughing is mainly microecological preparation companies.
As early as March 2021, Japan's Meiji Dairy launched functional yogurt containing LG21 Lactobacillus in the Chinese market. According to Koga Taihiro, president of the Japanese Probiotic Society at the time, Lactobacillus LG21 has a certain effect in inhibiting Helicobacter pylori.
On the e-commerce platform, there are also many "Qingyou bacteria", "sucking yu bacteria" and "anti-yu bacteria" probiotic products for sale, such as "Donglan Yibaifen" anti-Yu chewing tablets, "Beijing Tongrentang" Qingyou bacteria, "Yidaduo" Youyi Qing probiotics, "Hengrun Youhuo" Light Wei Youyou, "Yun Qiao Jia" Wei Keyou, etc. On the relevant product page, there are many Helicobacter pylori infection patients who leave messages for consultation.
"Anti-Yu" probiotic products appear on e-commerce platforms.
In addition, some merchants also directly play the "anti-yu" function publicity, such as "solve the problem of Helicobacter pylori", "clear Hp", "comprehensive tranquility", "treat bacteria with bacteria" and "take away the bacteria into clumps", and at the same time show the potential harm of Helicobacter pylori in the form of "popular science" on the product page, and individual products also claim that they have "anti-Hp and stomach double patents".
The "anti-yu" function publicity appeared in the introduction of a probiotic product on the e-commerce platform.
Probiotic "anti-ghost" scavenging effect is limited
However, in the view of industry experts, probiotics can only play an auxiliary role in the clinical treatment of Helicobacter pylori, and the industrial prospects and commercial value may not be as large as the stock secondary market expects.
An unnamed gastroenterologist at a third-class hospital in Beijing revealed to the Beijing News reporter that there are many related studies of probiotics against Helicobacter pylori, and the medical community has a certain consensus on this, but there is no good research results at present. "Probiotics in general only play an auxiliary role, may reduce the incidence of some adverse reactions, such as diarrhea, but the role of eradication rates does not seem to be too large at present."
Ausnutria also said that the Fifth National Consensus Report on the Treatment of Helicobacter pylori Infection recommends the bismuth quadruple regimen as the main empiric treatment to eradicate Hp regimen. If certain specific probiotics are used alone, the Hp eradication rate is between 20% and 30%, while the combination of probiotics and triple and quadruple treatment regimens can increase the HP eradication rate and reduce drug side effects. Probiotics are general foods, and there are risks associated with the use of "probiotic" therapies alone to eradicate Hp, so you should first obtain a doctor's permission to make this decision.
Duan Yunfeng, a permanent member of the Chinese Society for Microbiology, told the Beijing News that Helicobacter pylori carcinogenesis is not a new topic, and as early as around 2010, there were relevant academic articles on "anti-yu" probiotics published internationally. "Recently, some domestic manufacturers have begun to do this, and there are some patent applications in the results, but there are not many clinical registrations."
According to Duan Yunfeng's understanding, the current marketization is relatively good is Lactobacillus reuteri, and several mechanisms of action on Helicobacter pylori have been studied. Many probiotic products with this strain claim to be resistant to Hp, but such products often face two problems. First, the publicity boundary, the current market sales of probiotic products mostly belong to the category of ordinary food, individual products applied for health food qualifications, but because it is not a drug, must not claim disease prevention, treatment function; the second is that the efficacy of the product can not be guaranteed, such as the amount of live bacteria is not enough, the way of taking, etc., have an impact on the effect.
"Whether anti-yu probiotics can become a promising industry depends on its effect." For now, at least, there are many flaws in the experimental methods used to study the bacterium. Duan Yunfeng said that Helicobacter pylori is a pathogenic bacterium, which must be studied in a specific laboratory of pathogenic microorganisms, and ordinary food enterprise laboratories do not have and cannot obtain this qualification, so it is impossible to study the mechanism of action of related probiotics to inhibit Helicobacter pylori. The lack of this mechanism will make probiotics in the industrialization process there are certain obstacles, such as other treatment methods may be simpler, lower cost, higher efficiency, and probiotic products do not even know the target, equivalent to a "black box".
"'Anti-Yu' probiotics want to develop as an industry for a long time, and they need to be studied clearly. Compared with antibiotics, the advantage of probiotics is that they are safe, but their effectiveness is worse, and the value of 'anti-ghost' may not be as big as hyped, but it has some value as a preventive means. Duan Yunfeng said.
Beijing News reporter Guo Tie pictures E-commerce screenshots
Edited by Zhu Fenglan Proofreader Zhao Lin