Beijing began to have hazy weather, and people played "hide and seek". Haze also set off a $27 billion respiratory medicine market, and the global pharmaceutical giant has already aggressively pursued mergers and acquisitions in the respiratory medicine market.

The composition of smog is very complex, including hundreds of atmospheric particulate matter. Among them, aerosol particles less than 10 microns in diameter are harmful to human health. They can directly enter and adhere to the upper and lower respiratory tracts and lobes of the human body, causing several major system diseases. . The most notable of these is respiratory disease.

Respiratory disease is the second leading cause of death in the world and has the third highest mortality rate in Chinese cities. Survey data from the health sector indicates that the current incidence of respiratory diseases in China is approximately 6.9%, indicating that China has nearly 100 million patients with respiratory diseases each year.

Globally, the compound annual growth rate of the respiratory medicine market is about 0.6%, and the market share will exceed 27 billion US dollars by 2015. In China, its overall market capacity is also increasing year by year, and the growth rate is higher than that of the pharmaceutical industry. speed. This phenomenon also makes the respiratory medicine market appear to be characterized by large capacity and rapid growth. Smog turned the respiratory medicine market into a seductive giant cake.

In the international arena, the global pharmaceutical giants have already carried out mergers and acquisitions, have further strengthened their respiratory medicine product lines, and actively deployed the respiratory medicine market.

In July 2014, AstraZeneca’s $2.1 billion acquisition of Almirall in Spain was aimed at acquiring all of Almirall’s ongoing research and marketing products in the field of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma.

In August, Roche Pharmaceuticals acquired InterMune in the United States for US$8.3 billion and obtained a promising new drug, pirfenidone, for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis to enhance its respiratory drug product line.

In October, Johnson & Johnson (101.22, 0.86, 0.86%) paid $1.75 billion to acquire Alios BioPharma Inc. This acquisition allowed Johnson & Johnson to acquire a group of drugs that target other types of viral infections. Johnson & Johnson has increased its focus on therapeutic drugs for infectious diseases.

Pharmaceutical giants AstraZeneca, Roche Pharmaceuticals, and Johnson & Johnson have all actively deployed respiratory drug markets to enhance their respiratory product line through mergers and acquisitions. It is not uncommon for Roche to purchase InterMune to pay such a high premium level in biotechnology acquisitions, indicating that the competition among large drug makers for promising new drugs is fierce.

The high incidence has brought market prospects. The use of respiratory medicine is considered to be one of the most promising pharmaceutical markets in the future. The international pharmaceutical giants have a seat in the respiratory medicine market, but the market has not been fully activated in China and there is still market space to tap.

Taking common asthma as an example, in the clinical application, asthma treatment drugs are mainly chemical drugs.

China's asthma drugs are dominated by foreign brand drugs. In the past few years, Merck (55.51, 0.38, 0.69%) has successively introduced several drugs for the treatment of asthma in China. Grace, known as the "gold standard" for asthma drugs, is Sinok (44.41, 0.78, 1.79%) is also anxiously looking forward to its sales growth in the global market. In the context of Western medicine dominating the Chinese asthma medicine market, multinational pharmaceutical giants want to further sweep the Chinese market.

At present, the main manufacturers of asthma drugs in the domestic market are GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca. The two companies occupy most of the market. In fact, the two markets have a similar situation, but the single-class products have their own merits. In the spray market, GlaxoSmithKline predominates, while the oral tablet market is dominated by Merck and AstraZeneca.

Of note is Benralizumab, a respiratory drug developed by AstraZeneca, which is specifically designed to treat asthma. The drug made a breakthrough in October 2014 and can significantly reduce the onset of asthma.

Smog triggered a $27 billion respiratory medicine market. By analyzing the market's pharmaceutical landscape, international pharmaceutical giants have already had mergers and acquisitions. The market has not been fully activated in China. There is still market space to tap.