Cardiovascular Drugs Set To Boom In China

Cardiovascular drugs are the third largest therapeutic class in thePeople's Republic of China, with 1996 sales of $405 million, or about 10% of the market for finished western drugs, says a new study from IMS Pharma Strategy Group. Sales in this sector should increase "substantially" by 2001, it adds.

IMS says cardiovascular disease management in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou is significantly different from western practice. Treatment is more aggressive, with earlier use of relatively heavyweight products often given in combination; eg ACE inhibitors and calcium antagonists together as initial therapy.

Hypertension forms about half the physicians' cardiovascular caseload. In nearly 90% of new patients, initial drug therapy consisted of western drugs alone. For ischemic heart disease (just over a third of the caseload), over 60% of established stable angina patients had their therapy repeated with no change in dose, administration or product, while a third of newly-presenting patients received traditional Chinese medicines, almost invariably in combination with western drugs.