Description
Breast cancer is a common malignant tumor in menopausal women, and now ranks first among malignant tumors in women. Recently, the number of breast cancer patients in China has been increasing year by year, with 420,000 new cases and 120,000 deaths in China in 2020. Breast cancer has become a malignant tumor that seriously endangers women’s health. Hormone therapy is a widely accepted treatment, especially for the treatment of estrogen receptor positive tumors. Aromatase inhibitors offer a new option for hormone therapy. Exemestane, an irreversible steroidal aromatase inactivator, significantly reduces circulating levels of estrogen in menopausal women by irreversibly binding to the active site of the enzyme and inactivating it, thus achieving an anti-tumor effect.
Exemestane is a third-generation aromatase inhibitor originally developed by Pharmacia & Upjoin (now a subsidiary of Pfizer). It was first approved in the UK in April 1999 and has been marketed in several countries for clinical use in the treatment of advanced breast cancer in postmenopausal women. Exemestane tablets are an effective and selective treatment for postmenopausal hormone-dependent breast cancer. Exemestane tablets, as third-generation aromatase inhibitors, are with strong selectivity and long-lasting effects. They can also control breast cancer growth by inhibiting aromatase and blocking estrogen production.
According to CRI’s market research, Pharmacia & Upjoin’s exemestane was not introduced into the Chinese market until 2008, when several generic drugs from local Chinese companies were already available in the Chinese market, of which the exemestane tablets from Qilu Pharmaceutical was already marketed in China in 2002. Pharmacia &Upjoin’s exemestane (trade name AROMASIN®) is extremely competitive in the Chinese market, accounting for more than 90% of China’s exemestane market in 2020 in terms of sales value. Despite the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the Chinese healthcare industry in early 2020, the sales value of exemestane in the Chinese market continued to grow in 2020, reaching approximately CNY400 million (USD61.6 million), with a CAGR of 9.2% from 2016 to 2020.
Breast cancer has replaced lung cancer as the number one cancer worldwide due to the rapid growth in the number of new cases in 2020. The increasing breast cancer cases are fundamentally caused by the altering risk factors for breast cancer, such as changing lifestyles and notions of marriage and childbearing due to economic growth, namely a general rise in the age of women having children, a decrease in the average number of births, overweight, obesity and lack of exercise, all contributing to the increase in the incidence of breast cancer. CRI expects that from 2021 to 2025, new cases of breast cancer in China will continue to grow, resulting in increases in both sales volume and value of exemestane in the Chinese market.
Topics Covered:
- Impact of COVID-19 on China’s Exemestane Market
- Development Environment of Exemestane in China
- Sales Volume of Exemestane in China
- Sales Volume and Value of Exemestane in China by Region
- Major Exemestane Manufacturers in China and Their Market Shares
- Sales Price of Exemestane in China
- Prospects of China’s Exemestane Market, 2021-2025
