The new crown drug market exceeds 100 billion US dollars!

It has been more than 2 years since the outbreak of the new crown epidemic
.

In an environment where anti-epidemic has become normalized, vaccines, neutralizing antibodies, and small-molecule "special drugs" for the new crown developed by various pharmaceutical companies are also emerging one after another

According to incomplete statistics, there are nearly 1,000 drugs under development and on the market for the new coronavirus infection worldwide
.

Many companies want to "take a piece" of this huge pie, and some companies have really seized the opportunity to soar into the sky

In just 2 years, the two foreign vaccine upstarts Moderna and BioNTech have become popular from the niche with their mRNA vaccines, with a market value of more than 100 billion US dollars at the peak
.

The global ranking of Pfizer’s pharmaceutical business, the “universal pharmaceutical factory”, once fell to tenth, but it jumped to the first place in 2021, mainly due to the new crown mRNA vaccine Comirnaty developed in cooperation with BioNTech.

Among the domestic companies, Kexing Zhongwei, Zhifei Biological, etc.
have also caught the express train of the new crown vaccine
.

It is estimated that Kexing Zhongwei's new crown vaccine net profit in 2021 is about 90 billion yuan, which is one of the most widely used new crown vaccines in the world

As the financial reports of major pharmaceutical companies in 2021 have been disclosed one by one, the final market performance of new crown drugs has also surfaced.
The total sales revenue of the 12 products listed in the table below has exceeded 80 billion US dollars
.

If China's vaccine products are added, the total global revenue of new crown vaccines and drugs in 2021 will exceed 100 billion US dollars

Vaccines are still king

Vaccines are still king

In terms of annual sales of new crown drugs, vaccines performed the best overall, exceeding $60 billion
.

This is mainly due to the two "super blockbuster drugs" Comirnaty and Spikevax, both of which are mRNA vaccines

Comirnaty is an mRNA vaccine jointly developed by Pfizer and BioNTech.
It was first authorized by the FDA in December 2020 for emergency use, and will be officially approved for marketing in August 2021
.

It will harvest a total of $40.

Spikevax was developed by Moderna and was also first granted emergency authorization by the FDA in December 2020, but will not be officially launched in the United States until January 2022
.

Spikevax has sales of $17.

Adenovirus vector vaccines from AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson also performed well
.
Vaxzevria brought in $3.
981 billion in 2021 and JNJ-78436735 brought in $2.
385 billion
.
Seven new crown vaccines have also been put into use in China, but the specific sales amount has not been disclosed
.

Neutralizing antibodies progress smoothly

Neutralizing antibodies progress smoothly

SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies prevent the virus from entering infected cells by blocking the binding of the virus to the receptor and subsequent membrane fusion
.
At the same time, the Fc region of the neutralizing antibody can also bind to receptors on immune cells to eliminate infected cells
.
In terms of market performance, although neutralizing antibodies are not as dazzling as mRNA vaccines, they can be regarded as delivering a satisfactory answer
.

Regeneron/Roche's Ronapreve (casirizumab + idelizumab) received FDA Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) in November 2020, with 2021 sales of $7.
574 billion
.
Regeneron is responsible for its market in the United States, and jointly developed by Regeneron and Roche for markets outside the United States
.

Eli Lilly/Junshi's eltemirumab/banivirumab received FDA Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) in February 2021 for the treatment of patients 12 years of age and older with mild to moderate COVID-19; expanded in September Post-exposure prophylaxis to high-risk groups 12 years of age and older; EUA continued to expand in December for mild to moderate COVID-19 treatment and post-exposure prophylaxis from birth to under 12 years of age, the world’s first and only EUA to cover 12-year-olds Neutralizing antibody therapy in the following populations
.
Benefiting from the expanding scope of use, the neutralizing antibody brought in revenue of $2.
239 billion in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 157%
.

GSK's Xevudy, which will be launched in Japan and the European Union in 2021, has received emergency use authorization from the FDA, with annual sales of US$1.
317 billion, contributing about 6% of the growth of the pharmaceutical business
.
GSK expects sales of Xevudy to be around £1.
4bn in 2022, based on an existing supply contract of more than 1.
7m doses, of which about 40% have already been delivered in 2021
.

AstraZeneca's long-acting antibody cocktail therapy Evusheld was granted emergency use authorization by the FDA in December 2021 for pre-exposure prophylaxis against SARS-CoV-2
.
Although Evusheld's sales in 2021 are only $135 million, the future is promising
.

In addition, in December of the same year, the first neutralizing antibody in China was also approved for marketing, which is Tengsheng Biopharma's ambivirumab/romisevirumab, which is used for the treatment of mild and common types with progression to severe ( Adults and adolescents (12-17 years old, weight ≥40kg) with high risk factors including hospitalization or death) patients with novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19)
.

Oral medicine may catch up

Oral medicine may catch up

In the second half of 2021, the emergence of Pfizer and Merck's new crown oral drugs caused a sensation in the industry one after another
.
This seems to give people hope that the epidemic will end
.
Domestic companies such as Junshi Bio, Ascletis, Simcere, True Bio, and Kintor are also developing oral drugs for the new crown
.
Among them, the VV116 developed by Junshi Bio and the prokalutamide developed by Kintor have the fastest progress and are both in the phase III clinical stage
.

Merck's Molnupiravir is a nucleoside analog that inhibits SARS-CoV-2 replication
.
In November 2021, the drug was launched in the UK, becoming the world's first oral antiviral drug approved for the treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 in adults, followed by an emergency use authorization from the FDA on December 23
.
In just over a month after its listing, Molnupiravir has reaped $952 million in 2021
.
Merck expects its revenue to reach $5 billion to $6 billion in 2022
.

Pfizer's Paxlovid is a combination of the 3CL protease inhibitor nirmatrelvir and low-dose Ritonavir, administered orally twice daily for 5 days
.
Ritonavir helps to slow down the metabolism or breakdown of nirmatrelvir, so that it can maintain effective concentrations in the body for a longer period of time and fight the virus for a long time
.

Paxlovid was granted emergency use authorization by the FDA on December 23, 2021; it was conditionally approved for marketing in China on February 11 this year, and Sinopharm was responsible for its commercialization in the mainland
.
According to Pfizer’s financial report, Paxlovid earned $76 million in revenue within one week of its launch, and is expected to have a production capacity of 120 million courses of treatment to supply authorized countries in 2022, with sales reaching $22 billion
.