Lucentis approved in China
pharmafile | January 18, 2012 | News story | Sales and Marketing | China, Galvus, Lucentis, Novartis, em, emerging markets
Novartis’ eye treatment Lucentis has gained approval in China, and the firm has also launched its diabetes drug Galvus in the country.
The green light for Lucentis (ranibizumab) came from the State Food and Drug Administration to treat wet (neovascular) age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The disease can cause blindness and severe vision loss, particularly in people over 50.
And oral diabetes treatment Galvus (vildagliptin) is approved in China as an add-on to metformin, the standard of care.
Novartis is framing its announcement as supporting the Chinese government’s ‘public health goals’.
Changing diets and lifestyles have led to a greater number of ‘western’ diseases in China: the country has the largest population of adults with diabetes in the world.
In recent years the number has quadrupled to 75 million and the disease accounts for a fifth of medical expenditure in China – costing $26 billion in 2007 and projected to rise to $47 billion over the next two decades.
Small wonder that this makes it an attractive market for pharma, despite issues over access and payment: Galvus will be competing with Novo Nordisk’s Victoza and Lilly’s twice-daily GLP-1 drug Byetta.
There are also an estimated 300,000 new wet AMD patients per year, for whom Lucentis is the first licensed therapy in its class available in China.
“We have been waiting for the Lucentis approval here since it was first launched in the US in 2006,” said Professor Xiaoxin Li, chairman of the China Fundus Society.
“We hope access to Lucentis will improve wet AMD patient treatment outcomes and optimise doctors’ experiences,” Li added.
David Epstein, head of Novartis pharma division said the two drugs demonstrate a “continued commitment to providing patients in emerging markets access to innovative treatments where there is significant unmet need”.
China is also an increasingly important marketplace for the whole sector, and Novartis recently announced that its 2,000 job cuts is the US and Switzerland would be partially offset by 700 created in China and India.
Adam Hill
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