Author Mao San
"Welcome China’s decision. It is only the beginning, and the road is still very long. " This is an excerpt from a reader’s comment in The Times of India, when China announced the cancellation of import tariffs on 28 kinds of medicines.
Let’s look at the British media writing in the article "China strives to lower drug prices, Indian pharmaceutical companies take advantage of the situation to come to China". "China has ambitiously launched drug procurement plans involving many cities to help reduce drug prices, which also opens up competitive opportunities for Indian drug manufacturers."
It is not difficult to find that with the gradual relaxation of national restrictions on imported drugs, especially after the introduction of the "4+7" procurement policy, India, known as the "world pharmaceutical factory", is eager to try the China market.
The bugle sounded and the army assembled. According to the data, since the "China-India Drug Regulatory Exchange Meeting" was held on June 21st, in less than two months, four Indian pharmaceutical giants have rushed to the China generic drug market.
One,Each has his own position and his own abacus.1. Sun Pharmaceutical: Expand its business in China in the next 6-9 months.
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd, the largest pharmaceutical factory in India and the fourth largest generic drug company in the world, took the lead in taking action.
On June 28th, Kang Zhe Pharmaceutical (CMS), through its wholly-owned subsidiary, signed a license agreement with Sun Pharmaceutical for Tildrakizumab and 0.09% cyclosporine A eye drops respectively. These two products are prescription drugs for psoriasis biotherapy and dry eye treatment respectively.It is also the first time that Sun Pharmaceutical has been allowed to enter the China market.
According to the agreement, Kang Zhe Pharmaceutical has obtained the exclusive license right to develop and commercialize the above two products in Greater China. The initial period of the agreement is 20 years from the first listing and sale of the products in the region, and can be renewed in an interval of three years after mutual consent.
According to the latest cooperation announcement, the cooperation between the two sides on generic products has covered 8 products.Covering a potential market of about $1 billion in Chinese mainland.Next, the two sides will further expand and deepen cooperation in the pharmaceutical market in China.
Founded in 1983 by Dilip Shanghvi, Sun Pharmaceutical is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, and has 30,000 employees worldwide. It is the largest chronic prescription drug company in India. Dilip Shanghvi once topped India’s rich list with a net worth of $22.5 billion and became the famous "king of generic drugs".
Today, Sun Pharmaceutical has produced more than 2,000 varieties and sold them in 150 markets around the world, covering the treatment of diseases in cardiovascular, psychiatric, digestive, respiratory and other fields.
This cooperation is regarded as an important breakthrough for Sun Pharmaceutical to enter the China market. "China has more than 65% of the generic drug market, and we will expand our business in China within 6-9 months," Dilip Shanghvi publicly stressed.This business will contribute "a certain proportion" to Sun Pharmaceutical’s total sales of $4 billion within three years., currently almost zero.
2. Sipura: once again put the China market into the planning map.
Followed by Cipla, India’s second-ranked generic drug manufacturer, its respiratory drugs ranked first in India.
On July 16th, Cipla, the European branch of Sipura, announced that it would set up a joint venture with Jiangsu Chuangnuo Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. as a branch of Sipura in China to build a production base of inhalant products. According to the agreement,The two sides will jointly invest 30 million US dollars,Among them, Sipura European Branch holds 80% of the shares, and Jiangsu Chuangnuo Pharmaceutical holds 20%.
The two sides of this cooperation have deep roots. As early as 2004, Sipura and Shanghai Chuangnuo Pharmaceutical Group jointly established Jiangsu Xidi Pharmaceutical. It was not until 2014 that Sipura sold its shares and withdrew from the joint venture company. Jiangsu Xidi was later renamed Jiangsu Chuangnuo.
Sipura was founded in 1935 by Abdullah Hamid. Its truly world-famous event was in 2001. In that year, when anti-AIDS drugs were still monopolized by a few patent giants around the world, Sipura reduced its anti-AIDS drugs to $350 per person per year in Africa, less than $1 per day on average.
At present, Sipura’s business lines span respiratory, antiretroviral, urinary, heart and central nervous system fields, includingA number of well-known anticancer drugs including Iressa, Gleevec and Trocquer.The company has 44 production bases and more than 1,500 products all over the world, covering more than 80 countries.
With the second cooperation with Chuangnuode, Sipura once again put the China market into its own planning map. "This cooperation in building a factory in China means that we have taken another important step," said Umang Vohra, global CEO of Sipura. China is an important direction for its development and will continue to explore various ways to establish a product portfolio including cancer drugs and other products in the future.
3. Strides Limited: A sales team of over 4,000 people will be promoted in China.
On July 29th, Sihuan Pharmaceutical Holding Group announced the establishment of a joint venture company with Indian pharmaceutical company Strides Limited to enter the China market to engage in drug registration and sales.
In this cooperation, both parties hold 51% and 49% shares respectively. Strides Limited will exclusively authorize Sihuan Medicine to register, declare, commercialize and distribute four major products in China, and it will supply them to the joint venture company through its manufacturing plants in India and Singapore.
According to public information, Strides Limited was established in 1990 and headquartered in Bangalore, India. The company has been listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India, and its sales and research and development product lines cover five major areas: cerebrovascular system, central nervous system, metabolism, tumor and diabetes. At present,It has seven production bases around the world, five of which have been certified by the US FDA.The other two are for emerging markets.
"The recent development of drug supervision in China has enabled differentiated high-quality generic drugs to be quickly approved, and itsThe portfolio with more than 140 products conforms to China application.Strides Limited said that after the four products of this cooperation, it can choose to further expand its product portfolio.
Next, Sihuan Medicine will use its sales team of more than 4,000 people and more than 3,000 distributors all over China to promote these four products.
4. Natco Pharma: The U.S. market is going down, seizing the opportunity to enter the China market.
On August 11th, Indian media reported that Natco Pharma hoped to expand its business scale in China in the face of the adversity of American generic drug market.
That is to say,Natco Pharma, the prototype manufacturer of the film Dying to Survive China-India Granin, will also officially enter the China market.As early as March this year, it was reported that Natco Pharma would cooperate with China institutions to start the BE clinical trial of Gefitinib.
Natco Pharma, founded in 1981.A well-known anticancer drug brand generic drug with many multinational pharmaceutical companies., including Novartis’s anticancer drug Gleevec, Novartis’s original research drug Zetai, AstraZeneca Iressa, Roche’s anticancer drug Trocquer, Bayer’s anticancer drug nexavar, and Gilead’s new scientific hepatitis C drug Propthone, etc.
Headquartered in Hyderabad, India, the top ten pharmaceutical company in Indian pharmaceutical industry started with a capital of only 3.3 million rupees (about 330,000 RMB). Today, it has 5,000 employees, 7 manufacturing plants and modern R&D laboratories around the world.
However, Natco Pharma’s main source of income depends largely on the United States.Take 2018 as an example. In this year, the US market contributed US$ 127 million to Natco, accounting for about 40% of the total revenue.
"It is hoped that the company will not only rely on the US market to get higher returns, but also the world, especially large developing countries, is a good strategy for the company to increase profits and share risks," said Rajeev Nannapaneni, vice chairman and CEO of Natco. It is time for Natco to enter the China market with the liberalization of policies and the reduction of tax rates.
Second,Desire for the China market
In fact, India has never stopped trying to enter the pharmaceutical market in China.
It is worth mentioning that in 1993, the Indian star company and the largest imitation pharmaceutical company, Rambosi, invested millions of rupees to set up a joint venture in China. Just,Due to strong barriers to entry, long-time commercial infrastructure and cost competition with local enterprises, Lamborghini finally withdrew.
Recently, since 2018, with the introduction of China’s "4+7" procurement policy, Indian pharmaceutical companies have once again tried to open the China market and accelerated their March:
In July 2018, India’s Anjovita Company invested 100 million US dollars to establish Anjovita Pharmaceutical Taizhou Co., Ltd.;
In December 2018, Alabin Pharmaceutical and Luoxin Pharmaceutical reached a cooperation to establish a joint venture in China to introduce high-quality and low-price drugs;
In February, 2019, China Reddy Laboratory Co., Ltd. applied for the bioequivalence test of clopidogrel bisulfate tablets to prepare for entering the market.
In this way, seven Indian pharmaceutical companies have definitely entered the China market in the past year. However, behind this swarming layout, it is reflected thatIn the past few decades, this huge Indian generic drug army sweeping the world has never been able to open up the China market.
According to statistics, during the period from April 2017 to March 2018, Indian pharmaceutical exports amounted to US$ 17.3 billion, of which 60% were exported to high-end markets such as Europe and America, and China only accounted for 1%.
Therefore, transnational illegal purchasing has always been the main way for Indian generic drugs to flow into China because they have not obtained the sales license in China. Behind this,The approval process is the biggest stumbling block for multinational pharmaceutical companies such as India to enter China.Because imported generic drugs are subject to clinical approval system, it takes several years to evaluate the consistency of a generic drug.
Take Sandoz, a generic drug subsidiary of Novartis, as an example. Its rosuvastatin tablet is the first imported generic drug approved for conformity evaluation in China. This drug was applied for clinical application in 2010, produced in 2014, and finally approved for conformity evaluation in 2019.The whole process lasted for ten years.
2018 should be an extraordinary year for Indian generic pharmaceutical companies. This year, thanks to the increasingly favorable conditions for importing generic drugs provided by a series of new drug administration reforms, India finally had the opportunity to set foot in China’s 100 billion generic drug market.
It is reported that at present, about 50 large Indian pharmaceutical companies have plans to enter the China market, looking for China partners, bringing their proud generic drugs to China and occupying the China market.
At present, the ambition of Indian generic pharmaceutical companies seems out of reach, but for domestic generic pharmaceutical companies, the days when they lie down and make money are completely over.