Chinese Painkiller Market Looks Promising

In the pharmaceutical market, neurological drugs have always been one of the larger areas. It is understood that, in the sub-category pattern, the nervous system drugs mainly have psychostimulants, painkillers, anesthetics, psychostimulants, anti-epileptic drugs and other seven sub-categories.

Among them, the painkiller market, which is the faster growing drug market among the five subclasses of neurological drugs that break the $10 billion barrier.

Some data show that the terminal painkiller market size in China's public healthcare institutions alone was close to $18.4 billion in 2019, while the painkiller market is still growing at an accelerated pace as the population ages, the incidence of various major diseases and the rate of surgery continue to rise, coupled with the continuous application of various new treatment technologies in the clinic and the rigid demand for surgical treatment in China still expanding rapidly, among other reasons.

Against this background, more and more domestic pharmaceutical companies have started to step up their efforts in this field, and the research and development of related drugs is also accelerating.

Recently, Renfu Pharmaceuticals announced that its holding subsidiary, Yichang Renfu, has been accepted by the CDE for the clinical application of RFUS-144 injection, a new class 1 drug. The drug is a selective opioid agonist, and data shows that the sales of opioid painkillers in public healthcare institutions in China will exceed 12.6 billion yuan in 2020.

RFUS-144 injection is the first Class 1 new drug to be declared for clinical use by Renfu Pharmaceuticals this year, and in addition to Class 1 new drugs, Renfu Pharmaceuticals has made a series of progress in the field of improved new drugs this year, including isoflurane injection, aminophenol oxycodone extended-release tablets, dexmedetomidine hydrochloride nasal spray, and dexmedetomidine nasal spray.

3 new drugs were approved for clinical use, including isoflurane injection, aminophenol hydrocodone extended release tablets, dexmedetomidine hydrochloride nasal spray and dexmedetomidine transdermal patch (II).

On 10 February, KANGFANG Biologicals announced that the clinical trial application for the company's innovative nerve growth factor (NGF) monoclonal antibody injection, which was developed independently, had been approved by the Drug Review Center (CDE) of the State Drug Administration for the treatment of pain (including cancer pain). The development of NGF monoclonal antibody is the first entry into the pain field for Canfang Bio.

The drug has advantages over traditional opioid painkillers such as long-lasting safety and non-addictive properties.

In January, the State Drug Administration website showed that Yangtze River Pharmaceutical Group's Nanjing Hailing Pharmaceutical's ropivacaine hydrochloride injection entered the administrative approval stage. Ropivacaine is a pure levosomal long-acting amide local anesthetic with both anesthetic and analgesic effects, producing surgical anesthesia at high doses and sensory block (analgesia) with only limited non-progressive motor block at low doses, suitable for surgical anesthesia and acute pain control.

It is understood that the sales of terminal ropivacaine hydrochloride injections in Chinese urban public hospitals, county public hospitals, urban community centres and township health centres (referred to as Chinese public medical institutions) exceeded RMB 700 million in 2020, up 27.22% year-on-year in the first half of 2021.

Currently, China's painkiller industry is in the formative years of the industry, with strong industry demand and a complete industry chain structure. The industry expects that with the subsequent listing of more varieties, the painkiller market competition may become more and more intense.