Recently, ZBD Pharmaceutical made a breakthrough in the field of traditional Chinese medicine innovation, and its self-developed 1.1 new drug - Qingdown and Wei Granules successfully approved to enter the clinical trial stage. In China, chronic diseases of the digestive tract, especially gastric ulcer, gastroesophageal reflux and other chronic diseases, have long posed a major challenge to public health, and the value of the gastric medicine market, especially the Zhongcheng gastric medicine market, is gradually widely recognized and valued by the industry.
The vigorous development of China's stomach medicine market cannot be separated from the huge patient base as support. According to the 2019 China Gastropathy Survey Report, among the 1.3 billion population at that time, the number of patients with gastropathy has reached 120 million, of which the elderly account for more than 70%. The incidence of gastrointestinal ulcer has reached 10%, and the incidence of chronic gastritis has climbed to 30%, which all indicate the severity of stomach problems.
Further investigation found that based on 22,152 valid sample statistics, mainly young and middle-aged people, up to 65.55% of the respondents clearly said that they suffer from stomach problems, another 22.18% of the patients have a vague attitude toward their illness, and only 12.27% of the people confidently said that they are not affected by stomach problems. The results of this survey undoubtedly provide a strong demand support for the continued growth of the stomach medicine market.
In recent years, the scale of China's stomach medicine market continues to expand, especially the market performance of Chinese patent medicine stomach medicine (for gastritis, ulcer and other diseases) is particularly eye-catching. According to statistics, between 2021 and 2022, the total market size of Chinese patent medicine stomach medicine in China's three major terminal markets has exceeded 10.4 billion yuan. Among them, the sales of Chinese patent medicine stomach medicine in urban physical pharmacies exceeded 2.7 billion yuan, an increase of 2.46%; The online pharmacy terminal sales of proprietary Chinese medicine stomach medicine soared to 440 million yuan, a year-on-year growth rate of 70.04%, showing a strong growth momentum.
In the fierce market competition, some brands stand out with their excellent product quality and marketing strategies. For example, in China's public medical institutions terminal Chinese patent medicine stomach medicine market in 2023, there are three brands with sales of more than 500 million yuan. They are Good Doctor Group's rehabilitation new liquid (sales of more than 700 million yuan), Yangzijiang's Weisu Granule (sales of more than 600 million yuan) and Kelun Pharmaceutical's rehabilitation new liquid (sales of more than 600 million yuan). The success of these brands not only reflects their deep strength in product development, marketing and other aspects, but also sets a benchmark for the entire stomach medicine market.
From the perspective of sales channels, the sales of proprietary Chinese medicine stomach medicine are mainly divided into online and offline two major sectors. In the online field, with the rise of e-commerce platforms and the change of consumer shopping habits, the online market of stomach medicine has formed a considerable scale and is in a stage of steady expansion. In terms of physical stores, some brands have achieved rapid growth through continuous innovation and optimization of product mix, improving service quality and other means. For example, among the Top 20 brands in physical stores, the fast stomach tablet of Qingdao Guofeng Pharmaceutical Industry, owned by Shanghai Pharmaceutical, performed particularly well, with a year-on-year growth rate of 179.34% in the first half of 2023. In addition, Li Wanshan Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. also achieved more than 100% growth in Hewei Chengchang pills, with total sales among the top three.
It is worth mentioning that in recent years, the rapid development of online pharmacies has injected new vitality into the Chinese patent medicine stomach medicine market. According to statistics, the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of drug sales in online pharmacies between 2014 and 2021 has reached a staggering 50.54%. In 2021, the sales of drugs in online pharmacies have reached 36.8 billion yuan, an increase of 51.5% year-on-year, of which the growth of OTC drugs is mainly driven by proprietary Chinese medicines. In particular, among the three newly listed top20 online sales drugs in online pharmacies, Yunnan Plant Pharmaceutical's Hawthorn and Poria granules, Ark Pharm's Yangweishu tablets and Yunnan Baoyuantang Pharmaceutical The year-on-year growth rate of Weikang capsules and other products of Industry has exceeded thousands, showing strong growth potential.
Looking forward to the future with the continuous improvement of people's health awareness and the continuous progress of medical science and technology, the market of proprietary Chinese medicine stomach medicine will usher in a broader space for development. On the one hand, existing brands will continue to increase research and development investment to promote product upgrading to meet the increasingly diverse needs of patients; On the other hand, emerging brands will continue to emerge to seize market share through differentiated competitive strategies. At the same time, with the further popularization of the Internet and the continuous innovation of online sales model, the online sales share of the Chinese patent medicine stomach medicine market is also expected to continue to grow, bringing more opportunities and challenges to the entire industry.
In this process, ZBD Pharmaceutical's Qingxin and Wei granules are undoubtedly a bright new star. The innovative drug Qingjiang and Weiwei Granules, developed by ZBD Pharmaceutical in collaboration with Dongfang Hospital Affiliated to Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, has demonstrated good safety and efficacy in the preclinical research phase. The drug is mainly used in the treatment of non-erosive gastroesophageal reflux disease (NERD) cold and heat syndrome, filling the gap in the field of proprietary Chinese medicine. According to relevant data, it is estimated that the number of NERD patients in China has exceeded 40 million, which means that Qingjiang and Wei granules have huge market potential. In the future, with the smooth promotion of clinical trials and the gradual development of market promotion of the drug, Qingjianghewei Granule is expected to become a dark horse in the market of patent Chinese medicine stomach medicine, injecting new impetus into the development of ZBD Pharmaceutical and the entire industry.