Two
Novartis drugs have seen positive developments in the rapidly emerging Chinese
healthcare market.
The pharma company’s vision loss disorder
treatment Lucentis has received approval from the state drug regular, while its
type 2 diabetes treatment Galvus has now been launched onto the market.
Lucentis' approval makes the drug the first in
its class to be available on the Chinese market, where this is a “huge unmet
need” for wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) treatments, according to
Professor Xiaoxin Li, Chairman of the China Fundus Society.
It is estimated that there are 300,000 new wet
AMD patients per year, with the condition a major cause of blindness and severe
vision loss in people over 50.
Lucentis, co-developed with Genentech/Roche,
was first approved in the US in 2006 and is now seen as a standard first-line
treatment for wet AMD in many markets.
The company achieved sales of $1.5bn for the
drug during the first nine months of 2011, with Genentech/Roche recording sales
of $1.2bn in the US. But it now faces competition from Regeneron's Eylea
(aflibercept), whose less frequent dosing regime could give it an advantage
over Lucentis.
Galvus launched in China
The Chinese launch of diabetes drug Galvus
(vildagliptin), approved as an add-on treatment to metformin, will also be a
boost for Novartis.
The country's diabetic population has
quadrupled over the last four years to 92.4m adults, due to the adoption of
western lifestyles and an ageing population. Despite the growing number of
people affected by the condition rates of awareness and treatment, and
consequently control of the condition, remain low.
"Uncontrolled diabetes is threatening to
overwhelm our healthcare system," said Professor Ning Guang, an
endocrinologist at the Shanghai Jiatong University affiliated Ruijing Hospital.
"It is important that new treatments continue to be made available to help
physicians address the growing healthcare need."
Galvus, which is approved in over 90 countries
across Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa and Latin America had revenues of $478m for
Novartis over the first nine months of 2011. But it failed to reach the US
market after Novartis withdrew the drug’s marketing application in 2008
following FDA requests for additional clinical trials.
"Today's announcement demonstrates our
continued commitment to providing patients in emerging markets access to
innovative treatments where there is significant unmet need," said David
Epstein, head of Novartis’ pharmaceutical division.
"We are proud to bring Lucentis and
Galvus to patients and physicians in China and support the achievement of the
Chinese government's public health goals."
China is one of the company’s top emerging
markets according to Novartis CEO Joseph Jimenez. The company has invested $1bn
to build the largest pharmaceutical R&D institute in China, and is
collaborating with the federal and local governments to improve healthcare
infrastructure and access.
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