GlaxoSmithKline discontinued well-known hepatitis B drugs.
At the end of April, Gansu Provincial Public * * * Resource Trading Network issued the Notice on Matters Related to Cancellation of Bidding Qualification for Applying for Cleaning Waste Drugs. Among them, GSK's hepatitis B drug adefovir dipivoxil tablets were withdrawn on the grounds that "the enterprise stopped production". It is noteworthy that GSK is the only enterprise in the document that applied to withdraw the waste drug on the grounds of stopping production, which also means that this drug under GSK will withdraw from the China market. GlaxoSmithKline told China Business Daily that accelerating the sales of adefovir dipivoxil tablets is in line with GlaxoSmithKline's global strategy of optimizing and simplifying product structure and increasing investment in innovative R&D pipelines and new products R&D. ..
Adefovir Dipivoxil tablets are the main therapeutic drug for hepatitis B and the star drug of GSK, which was listed in China in 2005. It is worth noting that in China market, adefovir dipivoxil tablets are copied by many pharmaceutical companies. According to the data of the State Administration of Pharmaceutical Products, as of 20021,* * * 23 generic drug companies have approved adefovir dipivoxil products.
An agent seller of imported drugs told China Business Daily that the more imitation products, the smaller the profit margin of the original drug. Generic drugs only copy the main molecular structure of the original drug, with low research and development costs and low prices. Previously, the sales cost of generic drugs was too high, accounting for a large part of the operating expenses of domestic pharmaceutical companies. After the implementation of the quantity purchasing policy, the sales cost is reduced, and the price advantage of generic drugs is more obvious, which has caused an unfavorable sales situation for the original drugs with higher prices.
In the second batch of centralized drug procurement in China, Guangshengtang and Qilu Pharmaceutical, the generic drug companies of adefovir dipivoxil tablets, won the bid with the price of 27 yuan and 28.5 yuan respectively, but GSK failed to win the bid. At present, many domestic pharmaceutical companies such as Tianqing, Shuanglu Pharmaceutical, Wu Traditional Chinese Medicine, Federal Pharmaceutical, Suzhou Pharmaceutical, Hunan Xiangya Pharmaceutical, etc. Imitating adefovir dipivoxil capsules.
How can GSK get to the hepatitis B drug market in China?
It is worth noting that adefovir dipivoxil tablets are not the first hepatitis B drug given up by GSK in China market. Previously, GSK sold Hepudin, the mainstream drug for treating hepatitis B, and its production plant to Fosun Pharma, a domestic pharmaceutical company, for 250 million yuan. When haipuding went on sale, official website, State Administration of Pharmaceutical Products, showed that there were 16 companies in China with the approval of lamivudine generic drugs, and one of them had passed the conformity evaluation of generic drugs. In the "4+7" procurement, the price of generic drugs produced by Zheng Da Tianqing was reduced by 90%, which impacted the price of original drugs.
After the discontinuation of adefovir dipivoxil tablets, GlaxoSmithKline may not have its main products in the hepatitis B drug market in China. "Hepuddin tablets and adefovir dipivoxil tablets were once the main products of GlaxoSmithKline to promote the income of hepatitis B market in China." A person in charge of the sales business of a domestic pharmaceutical company admitted to the reporter that in the case of intensified competition for hepatitis B drugs at home and abroad, GSK may have to develop new drugs in this field and create new performance growth points. In the aspect of imported hepatitis B drugs, entecavir under Bristol-Myers Squibb, telbivudine under Novartis and tenofovir-irafitamine fumarate developed by Gilead have all been listed; Domestic hepatitis B drugs, both GSK drugs have a large number of imitation products. For GSK, the risk of stopping production, selling or releasing long-term performance loss.
However, GSK has not given up the hepatitis B drug market in China. According to GlaxoSmithKline, a potential new drug with "functional cure" for chronic hepatitis B is undergoing phase II clinical research around the world. "This phase 2a data shows that this new drug has the potential to inhibit hepatitis B virus after four weeks of treatment, which also indicates that the company has taken a potential step in evaluating the' functional cure' of chronic hepatitis B patients."
Multinational pharmaceutical companies are splitting and slimming into a trend.
"Selling the original research drugs with serious profit shrinkage and laying out innovative drugs have become the profit strategy of many multinational pharmaceutical companies in the China market." The relevant person in charge of the sales business of the domestic pharmaceutical companies mentioned above admitted that after the "4+7" purchase, faced with the price shock of a large number of generic drugs that passed the consistency evaluation, multinational pharmaceutical companies with original drugs had to relocate their business in the China market.
According to the incomplete statistics of Huashang Daily, in 20021year, many multinational pharmaceutical companies, such as Pfizer, Merck, Novartis, GSK, Roche, etc. Everyone splits their non-core business, or sells it, or authorizes it, or even shuts it down directly. GSK announced that it will focus on supporting the development of vaccines and special drugs business by divesting non-priority products; Roche also announced that it would stop the marketing of mature products such as Roche and concentrate its resources on innovative drugs; Merck also stripped off women's health, biological similar drugs and some mature drugs. After the product patents expired, the above-mentioned multinational pharmaceutical companies all made the decision to divest related businesses and focus on innovative drugs.
The current business focus of GSK after "slimming" may also be on the research and development of innovative drugs. GlaxoSmithKline's product line covers respiratory diseases, hepatitis B, central nervous system diseases, AIDS and vaccines. In recent years, GSK has successively listed innovative drugs in these fields in China, including bivalent cervical cancer vaccine sirrah, fluticasone furoate for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and Berizumab for systemic lupus erythematosus.
"The' slimming' of multinational pharmaceutical companies is affected by performance and has to sell and transfer related business stop losses. For example, after GSK sells its two hepatitis B drugs, it may have a certain' blood reflux' in the field of hepatitis B drugs. At the same time, enterprises also have more capital to gather resources, no longer rely on individual heavy products to support revenue, constantly improve product lines and expand core areas. " The relevant person in charge of the sales business of the above-mentioned domestic pharmaceutical companies said.