stage a comeback! Gilead talks with the Chinese government about sovaldi's entry into China

Source: on August 6, 2015, Biovalley said that "there are many kinds of medicine red" The most obvious example is Gilead company, which has been enjoying unlimited scenery in the past two years In less than two years, Gilead company has swept the whole pharmaceutical market with the best-selling drug of hepatitis C, sovaldi It can be said that Gilead is enraged However, at the same time of sovaldi's great success, its high price even made the great empire cry (sovaldi, the hepatitis C drug, costs $1000 / tablet in the United States, and the cost of 12 week treatment will be as high as $84000) Even so, Gilead has not forgotten that there is still a huge market in Asia across the ocean - China It can be said that Gilead has not forgotten this vast market for a moment, but earlier this year China rejected the patent application of Gilead's hepatitis C drug, a blow to Gilead However, analysts said that the Chinese authorities rejected the patent application for the precursor drug (which is in an inactive state and is converted into a drug with chemical activity in vivo), and Gilead still holds the patent for the basic compound of sovaldi (sofosbuvir) This also means that sovaldi's door to China has not been completely closed However, if Gilead gave up the Chinese market in this way, it would appear that the pattern of Tucson is broken Data shows that nearly 30 million people in China are hepatitis C patients or virus carriers Nick Francis, a spokesman for Geely, recently revealed that the company still has communication with relevant Chinese parties on sovaldi's entry into China, which coincides with the special moment when the Chinese government just announced to expand the scope of medical insurance for major diseases, which may bring a turning point for sovaldi's future life in China In fact, it can be seen at a glance that the biggest obstacle for sovaldi to enter China is its high price This is not the first time Gilead has made a big deal, after the company encountered relevant problems in India Under pressure, Gilead finally decided to authorize a reduction in the price of the drug in some emerging markets - from $1000 to $10 per tablet However, this scope does not include China, Russia, Mexico, Brazil and Ukraine Another great challenge Gilead faces in China is the existing new drug approval system in China China's drug approval system has been widely criticized for its cumbersome procedures and high costs If Gilead fails to deal with this problem effectively, it will obviously have an impact on sovaldi's access to the Chinese market On the other hand, in the Chinese market, the Chinese government is facing a dilemma: on the one hand, the Chinese market is in urgent need of specific drugs; on the other hand, the high price of drugs is hard for ordinary patients to bear Therefore, deliberately obstructing sovaldi is not cost-effective However, this does not mean that the Chinese government is in a completely passive position in this game Recently, China's ascletis pharmaceuticals announced plans to carry out phase III clinical research on the specific drugs danoprevir (asc08) and asc16 (ppi-668), of which danoprevir is from Roche The drug lost patent protection in 2013, and asc16 was authorized by Presidio pharmaceuticals Obviously, if Gilead is too late to get tickets to the Chinese market, it may be the last piece of cake waiting for them Maybe China's biomedical industry is still a long way from Nirvana's rebirth If China's biomedical industry can have stronger R & D capability of new drugs, then we will be more confident to meet the challenges from foreign counterparts, and Chinese patients will enjoy better medical level.