Bayer making deep inroads across China

Bayer HealthCare reaffirmed its leading position in China's healthcare industry with sales of some 1.66 billion euros ($1.85 billion) in the country last year, a 14 percent growth from 2013.

At a recent press conference in Beijing, the company said its pharmaceuticals business grew at an annual rate of 15 percent in China, with a 26 percent spike in its consumer care business and 11 percent growth in its animal healthcare division.

"Our success in China is based on our company's innovation capabilities and patient-focused treatment options," said Alok Kanti, managing director of Bayer HealthCare China.

Based on a forecast by IMS Health, an agency that provides global information on the health industry, the pharmaceutical market in China will grow 9.3 percent from 2014 to 2019, compared to 6.1 percent globally over the same period.

"This is largely because of the size of China's market and its number of patients," Kanti said.

"As people age and as the economy becomes industrialized, disease profiles change," he said. "Despite existing technologies, there is a higher amount of unmet needs."

He pointed to hypertension as one example. One-third of Chinese adults suffer from the disease but only 34 percent of those patients receive treatment, a far cry from the United States, where 77 percent of hypertensive patents get treatment.

The second driver in the nation's overall growth is the central government's recognition of the importance of healthcare, which has led to "significant and rapid investment", said Kanti, who added that the Chinese government is focusing on medical infrastructure in rural areas and tackling diseases that can have a major impact on a small population, such as hemophilia.

Kanti said Bayer is looking at global diseases "where there is no cure today or five years ago" by making major investments in research and development to find cures.

Bayer offers a wide range of medicines, from anti-infectives and cancer-treatment drugs to women's health products.

Last year, it strengthened its consumer care business by acquiring the over-the-counter drug business of US pharmaceutical company Merck & Co Inc and Chinese firm Dihon Pharmaceutical Group, which produces herbal medicines.

The acquisitions made Bayer HealthCare not only the second largest producer of OTC products around the world, but a leading OTC player in China.

Acquiring Dihon "allows us an entry point into the very important area of traditional Chinese medicine", Kanti said, and access to smaller Chinese cities through Dihon's sales networks.

Last year, Bayer HealthCare increased its global R&D spending to 2.3 billion euros ($2.5 billion) and plans to bolster its R&D efforts in a number of key areas, including cardiology, gynecology, hematology, ophthalmology and oncology.

The company currently has 57 development compounds in Phase I to III of clinical development, with about a third of those compounds to treat oncology-related issues and another third for cardiology-related problems. Its China division is involved in 33 ongoing clinical trials, a rise of 50 percent from five years ago.

The first phase of clinical trials test the safety of a new drug, the second phase checks for effectiveness, and the last phase collects more data to prove that the drug works, explained Walter Beck, site-head of Bayer Healthcare Global Development Beijing.

Even after a drug is launched in the market, Bayer studies its effects to make sure it continues to be safe and to see how the drug could be further used, said Kanti.

With 46 cooperative projects since 2009, the company is working with Chinese academic institutions such as Tsinghua and Peking Universities in areas spanning from early research programs on disease mechanisms, joint biological research and medicinal chemistry.

The company has also been actively sharing its expertise with Chinese people via education programs for physicians.

"What's important for physicians is that after they leave university, they continue their education, because the industry, treatment options, treatment guidelines and knowledge change quite rapidly," Kanti said.

The company has a "Go West" project that extended to 23 Chinese provinces by 2014, training more than 21,000 doctors and hospital administrators. Another project in China called "Go Rural" has helped nearly 1,000 health administrators across the nation to enhance their theoretical knowledge, policy understanding and management skills last year.

The two projects were jointly initiated by a partnership between the company and the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

As one of the top three multinational healthcare companies in China, Bayer HealthCare is "supported by the creation of strategic partnership with strong local partners from science and academia", Kanti said.

"We believe in using science to make better products that help people lead a better life, be it in curing or managing a disease or be it in helping wellness. And therefore the power of innovation is critical for our company."

zhangzhao@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 05/06/2015 page15)