180 million old cigarette guns, can't support a explosive smoking quit medicine?

180 million old cigarette guns, can not afford a explosive smoking cessation medicine

Source: amino Finance/Cai Jiu

Everyone knows the harm of smoking, but it is not easy to quit smoking easily.

Because Nicotine's addiction has made smoking quitting a very difficult thing. Since it is difficult to get it, it requires external forces. This stimulates people's demand for the smoking cessation industry.

In view of this, "smoking cessation medicine" dependent on tobacco dependence should be born. Among the many smoking quit medicines, Pfizer's Champix (liquor sketching Nixkland tablets) is the representative.

This elimination of smoking quitting in 2006, although the risk of "carcinogenic" was removed from the world in 2021, in 2019, the peak of sales was as high as 1.107 billion US dollars, and successfully ranked among the "heavy bomb bombs. "Pharmaceutical ranks.

It seems that, based on the huge number of smokers, as long as the product is strong, the smoking cessation medicine is a proper "money printing machine". However, Champix has been approved in many countries around the world, but more than 80%of the income is still from the United States.

Why can't Champix be sold outside the United States? The domestic smoking quit market can give us answers.

/ 01 /

Old smoke gun 180 million VS smoking cessation medicine income of 10 million

You may not know that although there are more than 300 million smokers in China, it is the world's largest tobacco consumer, of which more than 180 million adults have tobacco dependence, which is the "old tobacco gun" of tobacco addiction, It is poor, and even many people may not know that there are still regular smoking quit medicines.

According to data, the domestic sales in the country have been tepid. From 2015 to 2019, domestic sales have not exceeded 10 million yuan. Calculated, each old smoker only wants to spend 5 or 6 cents every year for smoking, not even a yellow crane building.

To put it bluntly, one of the important reasons for the smoking quit medicine is not enough to quit smoking.

Many people have difficulty in "smoking addiction" and attribute to their personal willpower. This is right and not completely right. Because most people may not really want to quit smoking at all.

Just like you can never wake up a person who pretend to sleep, it is difficult for you to force a person who does not want to quit smoking to quit smoking.

In this regard, the number of people with domestic smoking quit clinics can be treated. According to data from the China Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only 24,534 patients were intervened in a total of 24,534 patients in the nation's provinces in 2020. This number is insignificant compared to the heavy enthusiasts of 180 million cigarettes.

In other words, every 10,000 old cigarette guns really determine to quit smoking, there may be only one. As a result, although the smoke base is large, fundamentally, quitting smoking is not a "good business" in China.

The most direct manifestation is the quitting clinic of Menke Ronar. Under the trend of "tobacco control", the overall support of provinces and cities has become increasingly stronger, and smoking quit clinics have emerged.

According to statistics from the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, as of 2017, there were 366 Chinese smoking quit clinics. Corresponding to the number of people with more than 20,000 people per year, the average annual consultation of each clinic is less than 70.

Even if it is a top hospital such as China -Japan Friendship, the cigarette quit clinic is scarce because of the small number of people, which is a chicken rib. This has also led to nearly 400 smoking quit clinics nationwide, but it is very minimal that the real "benign operation" is.

Another direct manifestation is that there is a number of downloads of smoking quit APP, but no daily living users. The 3 氪 APP once told the media that its 500,000 users lived less than 1%a day. In the end, the results were "yellow" like the quit clinic.

This is also the fate of smoking quit medicine. As early as 2008, Champix was approved in China, but it was obvious, but Champix's sales were not considerable. In Champix's international income, Pfizer has almost never mentioned the contribution of the Chinese market.

/ 02 /

30%success rate, restriction of efficacy

Of course, the old smoke gun is not willing to quit smoking. In addition to its own psychological factors, it is also closely related to the drug itself. Among them, the efficacy is one of the important factors that affect the efficiency of old smoke gun quitting.

In terms of global perspective, Champix is ​​already the most prominent product. This is the core reason why Champix sells in the United States.

The nicotine replacement therapy that is not cured is not talked about, and smoking cessation medicines that really help smoking quitting are mainly two categories: Africhone and Galanklin.

According to the head -up experiment between Portallin and Africh, Paramlin is better. As shown in the figure below, on the 8th, 12th weeks of the medication, and the 24th Wednesday stage, the "quitting rate" of the Galanklin group is higher than the Amviosone group.

But even so, Champix's long -term smoking cessation effect is still unsatisfactory. As shown in the figure above, by the 24th week, the quitting rate has dropped from 74.4%on the 8th day to 29.5%.

In other words, if you are observed in half a year dimension, every 10 patients with CHAMPIX quit smoking can really succeed.

Although this is a qualitative leap compared to the placebo and amponeone. But for some old smoke guns, it may still not be enough. In addition, the purchase of Champix is ​​not easy, and you need to buy it by prescription. In other words, smokers want to try the effect of Champix, at least go to the smoking quit clinic to find a doctor to open a prescription.

Many old cigarette guns said that since the success rate is less than half, why take time and effort and money? / 03 /

Too high price, another big road stopper

For those who really want to quit smoking, Champix is ​​still very attractive, at least it provides a possibility. But at the same time, most people face a question: price.

Take domestic as an example. As shown in the figure below, the product combination of Champix0.5 mg*11 tablets / 1 mg*14 pieces is 260 yuan, and 1 mg*28 pieces of products are 345 yuan / box.

CHAMPIX's course of treatment is 12 weeks. According to its instructions, counted, a course of treatment is a product portfolio of 0.5 mg*11 tablets / 1 mg*14 pieces, plus 5 boxes of 1 mg*28 pieces of products, which costs a total of 2000 at 2000 About yuan.

Because Champix was not included in medical insurance, all of them had to pay at their own expense. A course of treatment is 2,000 yuan. This price is undoubtedly a major obstacle for most of the old smoke guns. Most of the smokers who are not so firm.

It's not only domestic, but also overseas. In terms of global perspective, the affordable price is an important factor in Champix volume.

In the United States, Champix is ​​also not cheap, and the monthly cost is around $ 500. But the reason why Champix's annual sales in the United States once reached 899 million US dollars, the core reason was two points:

First, the coverage of commercial security. According to MMIT's drug prescription data, CHAMPIX is covered by most commercial insurance plans, which reduces the pressure of patients' self -payment to a certain extent;

Second, Pfizer launched a "discount card" for customers without insurance reimbursement channels. Using a discount card, each prescribed medicine can save up to $ 175, and can save up to $ 1050 per year.

Outside the United States, Spain, Canada and other countries include Champix into the scope of medical insurance, and the effect is immediate.

In 2020, Champix's sales were affected by the epidemic, but sales outside the United States did not significantly decline. In 2019, it was $ 208 million and 2020 was $ 203 million. Pfizer said that the core reason is that Spain incorporates Champix into the incremental increase in medical insurance and offsets adverse factors.

/ 04 /

Domestic smoking quit medicine is not a good track

From the perspective of product attributes, smoking cessation medicines are a good track: the audience is extremely huge, and in the trend of smoking cessation, the willingness to pay will continue to increase. In the United States, this is also a verified track. However, the national conditions are different, resulting in the market prospects are completely different.

Specifically, if you want to succeed, a smoking quit medicine is affected by at least three factors: will, curative effect, price.

With the continuity of the trend of smoke control and the improvement of national health awareness, the willingness to quit smoking in domestic smoke guns may become stronger; in the future, with the deepening of medical innovation, more effective smoking cessation products may also appear.

But the pricing problem can only rely on pharmaceutical companies to concessions. At present, commercial insurance is still weak in my country and is difficult to copy the success of the US market; medical insurance cannot be a life -saving straw in the short term.

The "Interim Measures for the Management of Basic Medical Insurance Drugs" issued by the Medical Insurance Bureau in September 2020 clearly states that "drugs that mainly enhance sexual function, treats hair loss, weight loss, beauty, smoking, and drinking, etc." Essence

This means that for a long time, domestic smoking cessation medicines still need to be at their own expense. How to cover the wider people with the best pricing strategy is a question that pharmaceutical companies need to consider.

After Champix's global delisting, generic drugs began to board the stage. There are also CHAMPIX generic drugs in China. At the end of April this year, Champix developed by Hansen Pharmaceuticals Ai Lechang was approved to be listed. At present, its price is roughly at a discount of 50 % off the original research drug Champix.

In addition, according to data, in addition to Hansen Pharmaceutical, the subsidiaries of Qianyuan Pharmaceutical, Jiayi Pharmaceutical, Lango Pharmaceutical and Weizhi Encyclopedia, have also submitted a listing application.

Who can improve the penetration rate of domestic smoking quit drugs and break the dilemma of unable to sell? let us wait and see.

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