Pfizer has become a new generation of multinational "drug king" AstraZeneca's poor performance in the Chinese market

2021 has passed in a blink of an eye.
Before the Q4 financial reports of major multinational pharmaceutical companies and their 2021 full-year financial reports have not been disclosed, the author uses the first three quarters of performance to discuss the strength of the TOP10 multinational pharmaceutical companies in 2021, as well as the sparks of opportunities and challenges
.
In the first three quarters of 2021, Pfizer regained the top spot on the list of TOP10 multinational pharmaceutical companies with the surge in sales of the new crown vaccine Comirnaty.
With the support of various pharmaceutical policies, the performance of multinational pharmaceutical companies in the Chinese market has shown a trend of polarization
.
Strength + Opportunity: Pfizer returns to the top 1 multinational pharmaceutical company, and the "Drug King" is translocated.
According to the total operating income of major multinational pharmaceutical companies, Pfizer ranked first with a total revenue of US$57.
653 billion, compared with the same period of the previous year.
Soared by 91%; followed by Roche, with a total revenue of US$50.
479 billion (including diagnostic products), and the overall growth rate was stable; AbbVie maintained its consistently amazing growth rate and became the total revenue in the first three quarters The dark horse in China ranked third with $41.
236 billion
.
The first three quarters of the top 10 multinational pharmaceutical companies were all over US$25 billion, and Novartis, Johnson & Johnson, BMS, GSK, Sanofi, Merck and AstraZeneca ranked fourth to tenth
.
Table 1: The performance of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies in the first three quarters of 2021 (unit: US$100 million) Note: 1.
The total revenue of Pfizer and GSK includes the revenue of consumer health, while Johnson & Johnson and Merck only calculate the revenue of the pharmaceutical sector; 2.
Roche, The total revenue of GSK and Sanofi involves exchange rate conversion (1 Swiss franc = 1.
0813 US dollars, 1 pound = 1.
3263 US dollars, 1 euro = 1.
1309 US dollars); 3.
Takeda's 2021 fiscal year is 2021.
04.
01 ~ 2022.
03.
31, and the current Q3 financial report Unannounced opportunities that are not included in the scope of statistics are difficult to grasp, and grasping is the biggest driving force for breaking through the difficulties
.
Obviously, Pfizer has firmly seized the opportunity of the global new crown epidemic this time.

.
In 2020, due to the negative impact of the epidemic, Pfizer's total revenue in the first three quarters of 2020 fell significantly (-22.
6%), and its full-year revenue in 2020 was only US$41.
908 billion.
Out of the top five, Roche ranked first with more than $50 billion in operating income that year
.
Dramatically, the new crown vaccine developed due to the new crown epidemic has turned Pfizer's headwinds in 2021, and its revenue in the first three quarters has soared by 91%
.
As mentioned in Pfizer's Q3 financial report, Pfizer's annual revenue in 2021 is expected to be around $82 billion, and it is certain that Pfizer will return to the top of the TOP10 multinational pharmaceutical companies
.
The new crown vaccine Comirnaty (BNT162b2) developed by Pfizer and BioNTech was the first to be approved in the United Kingdom in December 2020, and has now been used urgently/officially approved in many countries or regions
.
In 2021, Comirnaty (BNT162b2) had sales of $3.
5 billion in the first quarter, and contributed nearly $7.
9 billion in revenue in the second quarter, plus $12.
977 billion in revenue in the third quarter, Comirnaty (BNT162b2) earned $24.
277 billion in the first three quarters of 2021 The US dollar revenue accounted for more than 40% of Pfizer's total revenue in the first three quarters
.
Meanwhile, AbbVie’s Humira (adalimumab) currently has peak sales of $19.
936 billion in 2018 and $15.
360 billion in the first three quarters of 2021
.
Comirnaty (BNT162b2) will also surpass AbbVie's Humira in sales and become a new generation of "drug king"
.
In addition, Roche's aggressive strategy in dealing with the global new crown epidemic also shines brightly on its 2021 performance
.
Looking at the data from the first three quarters, Roche ranked second in the TOP10 ranking of multinational pharmaceutical companies
.
Roche's Q3 financial report data shows that Roche's strong growth is mainly due to the performance of the diagnostics division
.
Sales in the Diagnostics segment rose 39% in the first nine months to $14.
4 billion (CHF 13.
305 billion), driven by high demand for COVID-19 surveillance, a strong recovery in the underlying business and the launch of a new diagnostics platform
.
At the same time, Roche's Actemra (tocilizumab) was granted emergency use authorization by the FDA and recommended by the WHO for the treatment of cytokine release syndrome in hospitalized COVID-19 patients
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Source: Roche’s financial report Strength + Challenges: Some people are happy about China’s policies, some are worried The impact of policies on the pharmaceutical industry is getting bigger and bigger, and the development of multinational pharmaceutical companies in the Chinese market is facing more challenges and opportunities
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In the face of challenges and opportunities, the layout strategy is the key, the response method is the homework that major multinational pharmaceutical companies should do, and the performance data is the answer
.
From the perspective of the TOP10 multinational pharmaceutical companies, the "achievements" in China in the first three quarters of 2021 will be polarized
.
Novartis has a strong performance in the Chinese market in 2021
.
Revenue in China in the first quarter was US$744 million (+11%), revenue in China in the second quarter was US$811 million (+18%), and revenue in China in the third quarter was US$839 million (+18%), so the top three in 2021 The cumulative revenue in China for the quarter was US$2.
394 billion, an increase of 16%
.
Actively catering to the tide of medical insurance negotiations is an important support for Novartis' sales growth in China
.
In the medical insurance negotiation held in December 2020, Novartis showed the most positive performance among all multinational pharmaceutical companies.
Eight of its products and new indications successfully entered the 2020 National Medical Insurance Drug List through medical insurance negotiation, and the other four products had original indications.
All of them successfully renewed their contracts and became the biggest "winner" in the medical insurance negotiation in 2020, which directly boosted the overall sales of Novartis China in 2021
.
In the latest medical insurance negotiation in 2021, 3 Novartis products and new indications entered the medical insurance catalogue, and 6 product indications in the original catalogue were successfully renewed, including: Eltrombopag ethanolamine tablets, sacubitril valsartan sodium Tablets, Nilotinib Capsules, Sacubitril-Valsartan Sodium Tablets, Ranibizumab Injection, Omalizumab for Injection, Ruxolitinib Phosphate Tablets, Everolimus Tablets, and Indatrol Bronium bromide inhalation powder
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Table 2: Novartis included in the 2020 and 2021 National Medical Insurance Negotiation Varieties Source: Novartis official website In addition to Novartis, Sanofi and Merck have also performed well in the Chinese market in the first three quarters of financial reports
.
Sanofi's Dabitux (duprilumab), which has entered the medical insurance market, performed strongly in the Chinese market in the third quarter, while the sales of Lantus (insulin glargine) and Plavix (clopidogrel) in the Chinese market also declined.
More optimistic, the sales of Plavix, which was included in the purchase with quantity, continued to recover, and the sales in the third quarter increased by 16.
7% to 101.
8 million US dollars
.
The financial report shows that in the first three quarters of 2021, Sanofi’s Chinese market revenue was US$2.
445 billion, a year-on-year increase of 8.
5%
.
The Chinese market is Merck's third largest market, and sales growth outside the U.
S.
market is mainly driven by strong demand in the Chinese market
.
The proportion of drug sales revenue rose from 7.
4% in the first quarter of this year to 11.
1% in the third quarter, the fastest growth rate among all markets
.
In the first three quarters, Merck China's market revenue was US$2.
910 billion
.
Some people are happy and some are sad, and the most obvious one is AstraZeneca
.
In the first three quarters of 2021, AstraZeneca's China market revenue increased by 8% year-on-year to US$4.
699 billion
.
At first glance, the sales growth rate is not bad, but according to the financial report data, AstraZeneca’s growth in the first quarter of the Chinese market increased by 10% year-on-year, and in the second quarter, it increased by 12% year-on-year
.
However, AstraZeneca's third-quarter performance in China was US$1.
49 billion, and revenue increased by only 2% year-on-year, far lower than the double-digit quarterly growth rate in recent years.

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The reason for AstraZeneca's third-quarter passing results is inseparable from the health care negotiation policy
.
AstraZeneca’s lung cancer targeted drug third-generation EGFR-TKI osimertinib has been reduced in price and included in the scope of medical insurance reimbursement.
The price is about 53,000 per box (30 capsules per box) at the time of listing, and 70% will be reimbursed after entering the medical insurance (1.
7 per box per box).
million or so)
.
Although the sales of osimertinib are currently expanding, it cannot fully make up for the impact of price cuts
.
In addition, volume procurement is also a reason that affects AstraZeneca's performance
.
In the previous fifth batch of centralized procurement, AstraZeneca's large variety of budesonide inhalation preparation was bid at 8.
9 yuan/piece, and Chia Tai Tianqing and Joincare's subsidiary Shenzhen Taitai Pharmaceutical were offered at 5.
65 yuan/piece and 3.
39 yuan/piece respectively.
The price won the bid
.
Faced with the challenges of performance pressure in the Chinese market caused by a series of pharmaceutical policies, AstraZeneca chose to find another way and adjust its structure
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On December 16, 2021, AstraZeneca China announced that it will formally establish an omni-channel business unit from January 1, 2022, and appoint Liu Qian, vice president of AstraZeneca China, as the head of the omni-channel business unit
.
The adjustment mainly involves the two core sectors of Jiexian business and cardiovascular and metabolic and renal businesses: (1) Jixian business split: Jixian oncology business is merged into the Oncology Division, and the non-tumor business is independent, becoming Jixian chronic disease business department
.
(2) The Cardiovascular and Metabolism Division and the Renal Business Division were merged: the Cardiovascular, Renal and Metabolism Division was established
.
(Original abridged)