As affluence grows, Chinese waistlines also are expanding, and the
big drugmakers are moving to cash in on an increasing appetite for
weight-control products.
A
market long dominated by rhubarb-based laxatives and other
traditional medicines is now facing strong challenges from Western
formulations.
Infighting between the two leader competitors is heating up as they
each spend millions of yuan on marketing campaigns. One has even
taken the other to court over a controversial Internet posting and
other material.
What prompted all the interest by diet-drug makers are figures like
these: Nearly 13 percent of Shanghai's adults are obese, and the
rate is growing by 1 percentage point a year, according to a study
by Fudan
University.
Nationwide, the number of over-weight people is estimated at 70
million as China's increasing personal wealth leads its citizens
toward high-calorie fast foods, soft drinks and snacks.
Drugmakers have lost no time in cashing in.
Second-quarter sales of weight-loss products in Shanghai's
drugstores and supermarkets ballooned 58 percent to 28.6 million
yuan (US$3.4 million) from a year earlier, while sales in Beijing
jumped by 88 percent to 21.4 million yuan, according to a recent
market survey by United Research China.
Throughout the mainland, annual sales of weight-control substances
are estimated at 1 billion yuan, with an annual growth rate of 20
percent.
Battling for supremacy in this market are the drugs Xenical, made
by Switzerland-based F. Hoffmann La-Roche, and Qumei, produced by
Chongqing's Taiji Group.
Both use ingredients that require prescriptions in the West, but
the drugs can be obtained without doctors' orders in China.
Xenical, introduced in China in February, works on the digestive
system by reducing the absorption of fat. Its maker claims it is
the only diet drug that doesn't affect the central nervous system
and thus has fewer side effects than the others.
Qumei was launched in July 2000 and was China's first approved
member of the sibutramine group of drugs, a formulation used in the
West that suppresses appetite and causes a feeling of fullness by
affecting the central nervous system.
In
fact, it was that difference that caused Taiji to file a lawsuit
against Roche in July. The suit alleged that Roche tarnished
Taiji's reputation by claiming on its Website and in its brochures
that Qumei causes higher blood pressure.
In
the second quarter of the year, Qumei's makers beat the Xenical
folk in domestic advertising spending, 34 million yuan to 9.7
million yuan, with remarkable results for both.
"Sales of Xenical in China are growing between 30 to 50 percent
monthly, and we are targeting US$12 million in total this year,"
said Leon Wang, Xenical's brand manager, declining to provide the
current figure.
Qumei has generated 300 million yuan in sales so far, according to
Li Shuwen, the drug's marketing manager.
In
addition to the advertising, both companies are marketing their
products through hospital affiliations.
Roche is working with 70 institutions across the country to set up
weight- reduction clinics. Patients visit the clinics two to three
days a week for diet and exercise programs that include weight and
body-mass checks - and of course Xenical.
"We also teamed up with hospitals to set up body fitness centers,"
said Qumei's Li.
Who's winning the competition so far?
Xenical appears to be ahead in the hospital market, holding an 86
percent share while Qumei has the rest, according to IMS Health
Inc.
According to a United Research China survey of retail store sales,
Xenical is stronger in Shanghai, with 12.4 percent share of the
entire weight-loss market, while Qumei has 4.6 percent. In Beijing,
however, Qumei holds a dominating 36 percent to its competitor's
10.1 percent.
(Eastday.com
09/06/2001)