Sunflower Pharmaceutical (002737) released its annual report on April 26, disclosing that its 2023 performance will achieve a year-on-year increase of 11.89% in revenue and a year-on-year increase in net profit attributable to the parent company of 29.05%. Among them, Sunflower Liver Protection Tablets have achieved rapid growth, and the annual delivery amount has exceeded 1 billion yuan for the first time, ranking among the first-line gold single products in the industry.....
文 | Mo叔
With the multiple changes in the development of the health industry, the retail pharmacy market has ushered in a critical period of accelerated transformation and category reshaping.
In 2023, the sales scale of the national retail pharmacy market will decline by 0.7% year-on-year, and the latest data from Zhongkang CMH shows that the market sales scale will decline by 6.9% year-on-year in January this year.
Although the unusual events at the end of 2022 have disrupted the data for this period, through our conversations with first-tier pharmacy operators, we have observed that the industry has not yet shown significant signs of recovery. However, operators generally agree on the view that in order to stimulate performance growth, they need to actively explore and explore drugs with high growth potential to meet the health needs of consumers.
In this context, the sales volume of liver disease-related categories has shown a trend of growth against the market, and the market attention has also increased significantly.
According to the analysis of Zhongkang CMH data, the sales scale of the drug used for the treatment of liver diseases, the enzyme lowering and yellowing category, has grown by an average of more than 10% in the past six years, and in 2023, this figure will jump to 23.8%. Judging from the data in January this year, the sales volume of drugs for the treatment of hepatobiliary diseases is also one of the three fastest-growing product categories, with a year-on-year growth rate of more than 20%.
China's retail terminal market - liver disease treatment drugs - enzyme lowering and yellowing category scale overview
Data source: Zhongkang CMH
This series of data not only demonstrates the strong growth momentum of the liver disease treatment market, but also reflects the increasing public awareness of the importance of liver health.
So, in the long run, can liver disease-related categories become a new profit growth point for pharmacies?
01
The global liver disease situation is severe
The awareness of liver protection in China is awakening
The World Health Organization's latest Global Hepatitis Report 2024 warns that the number of deaths due to viral hepatitis (hepatitis B and C) is increasing globally, reaching 1.3 million in 2022, an average of 3,500 per day, making it the second leading cause of death from infectious diseases worldwide.
Source: WHO
A well-known medical doctor in China mentioned in a public speech that liver disease is a serious public health problem in the mainland, and in the past 30 years, China has made good progress in reducing the incidence of hepatitis B, but the pressure on his shoulders is still not light. According to the latest data, it is estimated that there are still about 75 million people infected with hepatitis B in the mainland.
He also mentioned in the report that with the improvement of public health conditions, the promotion of vaccines and the widespread use of a variety of antiviral drugs, the incidence of viral liver diseases is decreasing, but non-viral liver diseases are increasing, including ALD (alcoholic liver disease), NAFLD (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease) and DILI (drug-induced liver injury).
Especially with the deepening of aging, the situation of drug-induced liver injury is not optimistic. The Chinese Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Drug-induced Liver Injury (2023 Edition) mentions that drug-induced liver injury is an important adverse drug reaction, which can lead to acute liver failure and even death in severe cases. The estimated annual incidence rate in mainland China is at least 23.8 per 100,000, which is higher than that of other countries, and is increasing year by year.
Fortunately, whether it is official institutions, medical institutions, pharmaceutical companies, and the public, in recent years, the importance of liver disease has increased. Like what:
- At the national level, during the "National Liver Protection Day", multi-departmental, hierarchical hospitals, chain pharmacies and other institutions across the country actively carried out free clinics and publicity activities with the theme of "loving the liver and protecting the liver";
- At the academic level, the "2024 Greater Bay Area International Forum on Liver Disease", co-hosted by relevant associations and hospitals, was recently held, and a number of liver disease theme forums were successfully held last year.
- At the enterprise level, pharmaceutical companies and pharmaceutical chains are also taking action, such as "Sunflower Liver Protection Lecture Hall", "Love Liver and Protect Liver, Healthy Peers", "Liver Protection and Sugar Stabilization" and other health science popularization activities with the theme of liver nourishment and liver protection continue to be carried out.
02
The first major category of liver nourishment and liver protection
The shipment of sunflower liver protection tablets exceeded 1 billion for the first time
As the attention of the people to liver disease continues to increase, the demand of the market is also expanding.
Some research institutions predict that the growth rate of China's liver disease drug market will remain at 4%-5% from 2024 to 2030, and the market size will reach 120.809 billion yuan by the end of 2030. The report also said that considering the issues of accessibility and the level of economic development in various regions, the liver disease drug market will continue to maintain a rapid growth momentum in the future.
In this liver disease drug market, liver protection tablets have grown into another major category.
According to the data of Zhongkang CMH, the market for liver disease treatment drugs in the retail channel has grown steadily in recent years, and the scale of the same generic name products of liver protection tablets accounts for 60.7% of the share of the enzyme reduction and yellowing category. At the same time, in 2023, the year-on-year sales growth rate of the liver protection tablets category will reach 32%. Among them, the market share of Sunflower brand liver protection tablets is the first, as high as 77.24%.
China's retail terminal market - an overview of the scale of liver protection and generic products
In 2023, the market share of liver protection tablets with the same generic name
Data source: Zhongkang CMH
Sunflower Pharmaceutical's annual report released on the evening of April 25 disclosed that its 2023 performance achieved a year-on-year increase of 11.89% in revenue and a 29.05% increase in net profit attributable to the parent company. In the report, when analyzing the performance drivers, it was stated that Sunflower Liver Protection Tablets will achieve rapid growth in 2023, and the annual delivery amount will exceed 1 billion yuan for the first time, ranking among the first-line gold single products in the industry.
Although Liver Protection Tablets belong to a specific market segment, Sunflower Pharmaceutical has been able to occupy the vast majority of the market share for a long time and maintain rapid growth, which is rare in the same industry.
According to the historical records, as a traditional Chinese medicine preparation for the treatment of liver diseases, Liver Protection Tablets were exclusively developed and put into production by Sunflower Pharmaceutical. Sunflower Liver Protection Tablets have shown significant therapeutic effects in many hepatitis outbreaks in China, thus creating a market for liver protection tablets. Therefore, some manufacturers have imitated manufacturing, and various "liver protection tablets" brands have emerged one after another.
However, some experts pointed out that there are differences in the production process, raw material selection and quality control of liver protection tablets produced by different manufacturers, which have a direct impact on the efficacy and safety of the products.
In addition to the market first-mover advantage, Sunflower Pharmaceutical has been able to maintain its leading position in the liver protection tablet market, but also because the company has invested heavily in technology upgrading and pharmaceutical research, including key TCM quality control technologies such as fingerprinting, as well as joint research and clinical trials with multiple medical units to ensure the safety and efficacy of its products.
For example, it has been listed as a national essential drug for the treatment of liver diseases, included in the "National Essential Medicines List" and "Pharmacopoeia", participated in the National Twelfth Five-Year Plan Major Project Traditional Chinese Medicine Standardization Project, and entered the "Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Drug-induced Liver Injury in China (2023 Edition)" and so on.
In practical application, the product has been widely used in medical institutions at all levels to treat a variety of liver diseases, including chronic hepatitis, early cirrhosis, fatty liver, alcoholic liver and drug-induced liver damage, etc., and its good therapeutic effect and safety have formed a virtuous circle of word-of-mouth communication.
03
Older adults are at high risk for DILI
It is necessary to continue to make efforts to nourish the liver and protect the liver
According to data from the National Health Commission, by 2035, the elderly population aged 60 and above in mainland China will exceed 400 million, entering the stage of severe aging. However, in this context, the awareness of the elderly to nourish and protect the liver is far from enough.
The most typical example is that in real life, the elderly have to take a variety of drugs due to a variety of underlying diseases (such as coronary heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, etc.) due to the decline of physical function, and the problem of drug-induced liver injury caused by this is often ignored.
A team of medical experts analyzed the clinical features of AI-DILI (drug-induced liver injury with autoimmune features) in the elderly population, and concluded that the elderly are at high risk of drug-induced liver injury because multi-drug combination therapy can change drug-induced immune and inflammatory responses.
The clinical phenotype of drug-induced liver injury is complex, with the characteristics of multi-target injury, large span of severity, large age of onset, and difficult to accurately predict. Therefore, it is of great significance to raise awareness of the prevention and awareness of drug-induced liver injury as soon as possible.
As early as 2016, WHO established liver disease as one of the target diseases to be eliminated in the world, and put forward the goal of "reducing new hepatitis infections by 90% and deaths by 65% by 2030". The year 2030 is also an important time to test the results of the Healthy China Initiative.
However, in view of the above situation, in addition to the threat of viral liver disease, the development of non-viral liver disease cannot be underestimated. In the future, we look forward to the joint efforts of the country's top-level design, management departments and social forces to bring new breakthroughs in the health management of chronic diseases.
Bibliography:
1. Lazaruszev, Markey, Anstekm, et al. AdvancingtheglobalPblicheltagandaforFLD:Aconcensastate. Natrevgastrundarol Epatol 2022;19:60-78.
2. Zhiyanzhan: Research Report on the Strategic Planning and Investment Direction of China's Liver Disease Drug Development Strategy