Availability of New Therapies for Hepatitis C Virus Will Increase the Drug-Treated Population in China

BURLINGTON, Mass., June 18, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Decision Resources Group finds that China's market for hepatitis C virus (HCV) drugs will be driven by an increase in its drug-treated population, following the introduction of novel HCV therapies. Nearly a third of patients diagnosed with HCV do not receive the current standard of treatment—the combination of pegylated-interferon-alpha (peg-IFN-alpha) and ribavirin—because they have not responded to this regimen in the past. The arrival of IFN-free regimens will bring patients who have not responded to currently available drugs back into treatment, thereby significantly increasing the drug-treated population.

Other key findings from the Special Report Patient Flow in Hepatitis C Virus: Changing Treatment Dynamics in China include:

• Impact of side effects on use of peg-IFN/ribavirin: According to interviewed Chinese physicians, significant side effects such as liver damage/advanced disease, neutropenia and anemia are the key reasons patients are deemed ineligible for peg-IFN/ribavirin treatment regimens.
• Availability of novel therapies: Interviewed Chinese physicians anticipate the availability of novel therapies will increase the number of HCV patients they see each month.
• Patients delaying treatment: Approximately 15 percent of HCV genotype 1 treatment-naive patients are delaying treatment until IFN-free therapies are available, according to interviewed Chinese physicians.

Facts about the Chinese HCV market:

• Prevalence of HCV in China: In 2013, there were over 8.5 million prevalent cases of HCV infection in China. Decision Resources Group estimates the total number of HCV cases in China will increase to approximately 9.1 million cases by 2023, due to increasing risk and the overall urbanization of China.
• HCV diagnosis rates: In 2013, the annual HCV diagnosis rate in urban and rural China was only 24 percent and 5 percent, respectively.

Comments from Decision Resources Group Analyst Youling Guo, Ph.D.:

• "The pipeline for HCV drugs is dynamic and competitive as pharmaceutical developers recognize the large commercial potential in China. Emerging therapies in late-stage development in China include Janssen/Medivir/Tibotec's Olysio, Bristol-Myers Squibb's asunaprevir and daclatasvir, Roche's danoprevir and Gilead's Sovaldi. These treatments promise to transform the HCV treatment landscape in China, as Chinese physicians indicate that they anticipate the number of HCV patients they can treat will grow."
• "We expect that the launch of these emerging therapies in China—which offer more convenient dosing and/or better side-effect profiles—will increase the number of patients willing to undergo and endure treatment for HCV."
• "Future opportunities for multinational corporations in the Chinese HCV drug market will depend heavily on the successful launch and marketing of new IFN-free therapies that target the HCV genotype 1 subgroup of HCV infection."

About Decision Resources Group
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SOURCE Decision Resources Group