140 OTC drugs sold over 100 million!

In recent years, medical reform policies have taken turns, and China's drug market has ushered in wave after wave of reshuffles
.

OTC products are less affected by centralized procurement, and as China enters an aging society, the pressure on medical insurance funds is increasing, self-medication will be one of the important ways for people to solve health problems, and the OTC market has huge potential

Traditional Chinese medicine for respiratory diseases is popular, and chemical medicine focuses on the field of digestion and metabolism

Traditional Chinese medicine for respiratory diseases is popular, and chemical medicine focuses on the field of digestion and metabolism

Figure 1: Top 5 categories of traditional Chinese medicine OTC products with sales of over 100 million

79 OTC products of traditional Chinese medicine with sales of over 100 million are distributed in 13 categories, of which 22 are medicines for respiratory system diseases, mainly involving cold medicines, heat-clearing and detoxifying medicines, cough, expectorant, and asthma medicines; musculoskeletal system diseases medicines 12, involving bruises, rheumatic diseases, and orthopaedic pain relief; 8 for digestive system diseases, involving constipation, stomach and digestion, heat-relieving, and hemorrhoids; Other medicines for ophthalmology, pediatric medicines involve pediatric cold medicines, pediatric anorexia medicines, pediatric cough and expectorant medicines, and pediatric antidiarrheal medicines
.

Common diseases such as colds and coughs, muscle aches, bruises, stomach and digestion, heat-removing, hemorrhoids, children's anorexia, and children's diarrhea are still very popular among consumers
.

On the one hand, consumers' awareness of self-medication for common diseases is gradually increasing, and on the other hand, the concept of "low side effects and high safety" of traditional Chinese medicine is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

Figure 2: Top 5 categories of chemical drug OTC products with sales of over 100 million

There are 61 chemical OTC products with sales of over 100 million, which are not far from Chinese patent medicines in terms of quantity, but are mainly concentrated in 8 categories
.

Among them, the digestive system and metabolic drugs account for 22, mainly involving the treatment of biliary and liver diseases, oral medicine, mineral supplements, vitamins, antidiarrheal drugs (intestinal anti-inflammatory / anti-infective drugs), drugs for the treatment of constipation, Drugs for the treatment of diseases related to gastric acid secretion; dermatological drugs accounted for 13, involving anti-acne preparations, antibacterial agents and disinfectants, antibiotics and chemotherapy drugs for dermatological diseases, antifungal drugs for dermatological diseases, and corticosteroid preparations for dermatological diseases; Respiratory system drugs accounted for 9, involving cough and cold drugs, systemic antihistamines; genitourinary system and sex hormone drugs involved gynecological anti-infective drugs and antibacterial agents, sex hormones and reproductive system regulators, sensory system drugs involved ophthalmic drugs

Different from Chinese patent medicines, chemical medicines mainly focus on skin diseases, antibacterial disinfection, gynecological infections, dimensional minerals, etc.
Most consumers think that these diseases can be treated faster by using chemical medicines than Chinese patent medicines
.

Over 60% of 29 exclusive traditional Chinese medicine OTCs are growing, and sunflower and Sinopharm are soaring

Over 60% of 29 exclusive traditional Chinese medicine OTCs are growing, and sunflower and Sinopharm are soaring

Table 1: Traditional Chinese medicine OTC products with estimated sales of more than 500 million yuan in 2021

According to data from Minet.
com, there are 4 traditional Chinese medicine OTC products with sales expected to exceed 1 billion yuan in 2021 in Chinese urban physical pharmacy terminals: Ganmaoling Granules and Jianwei Xiaoshi Tablets have increased sales compared with 2020, while Banlangen The sales of Granules and Lianhua Qingwen Capsules rose sharply in 2020 due to the epidemic, and returned to normal levels in 2021
.

Lianhua Qingwen is an exclusive variety of Ling Pharmaceutical, and its capsules are OTC products
.

The sales of this product in 2019 were at the level of 600 million yuan.

Ganmaoling Granules, Jianwei Xiaoshi Tablets and Banlangen Granules are all non-exclusive products, and the market competition is extremely fierce
.

From the perspective of brands, China Resources Sanjiu Pharmaceutical has a market share of 95% in Ganmaoling Granules, and the growth rate is expected to exceed 12% in 2021; the leader of Jianwei Xiaoshi Tablets is Jiangzhong Pharmaceutical, with a market share as high as 95%; Baiyun Shan Hutchison Whampoa Chinese Medicine is the leader of Banlangen Granules, with a market share of around 64%, which is expected to rise slightly from 2020

Table 2: Exclusive traditional Chinese medicine OTC products with estimated sales of over 100 million in 2021 and a growth rate of over 10%

18 of the 29 exclusive proprietary Chinese medicine OTC products are expected to have positive sales growth in 2021, and 11 of them have a growth rate of more than 10%
.

In addition, most of the 11 products whose sales are expected to decline only slightly decline, and only 3 have a decline of more than 10%

"Influenza Diagnosis and Treatment Program (2020 Edition)" once again includes Pediatric Lung Rekechuan Oral Liquid as a recommended drug for children.
This product has obvious inhibitory effects on a variety of common respiratory viruses, including a variety of influenza A viruses and influenza B viruses.
, while improving the inflammatory response caused by influenza virus infection
.

Heilongjiang Sunflower Pharmaceutical's Pediatric Feirekechuan Oral Liquid is expected to have sales of 195 million yuan in 2021, with a growth rate of more than 30%.

The Yaoshen ointment of Sinopharm Group Dezhong (Foshan) Pharmaceutical Co.
, Ltd.
is a new product of over 100 million yuan in 2021, with a growth rate of 65.
96%
.

Patches are the largest dosage form in the medicine for musculoskeletal system diseases.

There is only 1 OTC product of over 1 billion chemical drugs, and this mineral supplement has suffered a "three-year decline"

There is only 1 OTC product of over 1 billion chemical drugs, and this mineral supplement has suffered a "three-year decline"

Table 3: Chemical OTC products with estimated sales of more than 500 million yuan in 2021

In 2021, in China's urban physical pharmacy terminal chemical drug market, there is only one OTC product with sales expected to exceed 1 billion yuan.
Calcium and zinc gluconate oral solution is a non-exclusive product.
The leading company is Aonuo (China) Pharmaceutical, with a market share Nearly 70%; in addition, the sales of Pediatric Paracetamol Huangnamin Granules and Levonorgestrel Tablets are expected to exceed 990 million yuan in 2021, and are expected to exceed the 1 billion yuan mark in 2022.
Both products are non-exclusive , leader were China Resources thirty-nine (Yellowstone) Pharmaceutical, China Resources Zizhu Pharmaceutical
.

Chemical OTC products with sales of more than 500 million yuan are mainly concentrated in three categories.
From the perspective of sub-categories, mineral supplements account for the largest proportion
.
It is worth noting that, also a mineral supplement, calcium gluconate oral solution has shown negative growth for three consecutive years, and the growth rate is expected to decline by 54.
94% in 2021.
It can be seen that the competition in this sub-category market is extremely fierce, and only the strong can stand out in the competition
.

Table 4: Exclusive chemical drug OTC products with estimated sales of over 100 million in 2021

Among the OTC products of chemical drugs with sales of over 100 million, the majority are non-exclusive, only one is domestic exclusive, and 6 are original research drugs (or original research and localization)
.

The sales growth rate of Beijing Zhendong Kangyuan Pharmaceutical's calcium carbonate D3 tablets (II) in physical pharmacy terminals in cities in China in the past three years has reached 7.
91%, 15.
33%, and 16.
90%, respectively, and the market prospect is very good
.
In August this year, Zhendong Pharmaceutical shocked the industry by announcing the sale of 100% equity of Langdi Pharmaceutical for 5.
8 billion yuan.
The main products of Langdi Pharmaceutical include calcium carbonate D3 tablets (II) and calcium carbonate D3 granules
.
"New owner" Fountain Capital said that Langdi has covered the market through a complete marketing system, dealer system and customer system, and will help Langdi to carry out digital transformation on this basis in the future, and make use of Fountain's own global distribution capabilities , to help Langdi upgrade to a more international industry-leading enterprise
.
We will wait and see whether the calcium king can achieve another success after the "change of ownership"
.

29 drugs are converted to over-the-counter drugs

29 drugs are converted to over-the-counter drugs

Table 5: Products converted to over-the-counter drugs in 2021

Note: * is the product whose product specification has been included in OTC earlier

According to the statistics released by the official website of NMPA, a total of 29 drugs will be converted to non-prescription drugs in 2021, of which 16 are products that enter the OTC catalog for the first time (excluding double-cross), Jinzhen Granules, Shufengjiedu Capsules, Glucosamine Sulfate Potassium Capsules, Fukang Capsules, Shenqi Chewable Tablets, Aloe Vera Pearl Capsules, Buxu Xiaoke Mixture (Tangtai De Mixture), Xiangju Granules and Liermian Tablets are domestic exclusive products
.

Figure 3: Market share of Chinese and Western medicine and OTC/Rx in Chinese urban brick-and-mortar pharmacies (including prefecture-level and above cities) in 2020

According to data from Minet, the sales volume of terminal drugs in Chinese urban physical pharmacies will exceed 240 billion yuan in 2020, and OTC will account for nearly 40%.
Based on this calculation, it is expected that the sales volume of OTC drugs in Chinese urban physical pharmacies will be close to 100 billion yuan in 2021
.

Judging from the current situation, most of the hot-selling OTC products in the chemical drug market are non-exclusive products.
Under the pressure of leading Hengqiang, the competition among the remaining companies is extremely fierce.
At the same time, it takes extra efforts to stand out for domestic exclusive products; The number of exclusive products in the patent medicine market is large, and the strong ones are still strong.
At the same time, in the same therapeutic field, the competition between competing products is also very fierce.
At this time, brand strength is particularly important
.

With the continuous promotion of self-medication, relevant departments will adjust the classification according to the characteristics of drugs in a timely manner.
As more drugs are converted into non-prescription drugs, new competition in the retail market will begin again
.

Source: Minet database, NMPA official website

Note: Minet.
com China's urban physical pharmacy terminal competition pattern database is an enlarged version of the urban physical pharmacy database that covers 297 urban physical pharmacies in cities and above (excluding county and rural physical pharmacies) and continuously monitors all categories
.
The above sales are calculated based on the average retail price of the product in the terminal
.