Market Analysis 2 : The output and export supply of major API varieties - Anti-infective drugs

The output and export supply of Anti-infective drugs

In the first three quarters of 2018, the output of anti-infective drugs dropped by 11.53% YoY, suffering more decrease compared with 2% drop YoY recorded in the same period of 2017. This output decline was mainly caused by output reduction of benzylpenicillin sodium by 680 tons, amoxicillin by 1060 tons and neomycin by 1172 tons. Production of above-mention drugs were cut by CSPC Pharma, Inner Mongolian Changsheng Pharmaceuticals and Yichang Sanxia Pharmaceutical, among others.

In the first three quarters of 2018, the export supply of anti-infective drugs increased by 1% YoY, compared with 24.8% drop YoY recorded in the same period of 2017. Drugs with large export volume include amoxicillin, neomycin, trimethoprim, ceftriaxone sodium, oxytetracycline and procaine penicillin, etc.

Table 1: 2018 Q1-Q3 Output and Export Growth of Anti-infective Subcategories

(Hall 1C in the 82nd API China)

1. Penicillins

In the first three quarters of 2018, penicillins experienced an output decline of 20% compared with the same period of previous year, with the decline expanded by two percentage points compared with the first half of 2018. Amoxicillin, ampicillin and benzylpenicillin sodium still stay as the top three drugs in accumulated output, of which ampicillin is the only drug with positive growth. The export supply of penicillin in the first three quarters of 2018 dropped 2.71% YoY, but this negative growth narrowed by 37 percentage points compared with the same period of 2017. The main cause of this drop is due to that amoxicillin and procaine penicillin cannot keep up with the growth of export volume from the previous period.

Table 2 2018 Q1-Q3 Output and Export Supply of Penicillins

(Hall 3D in the 82nd API China)

2. Cephalosporins

Cephalosporins dropped 14.1% YoY in output and 0.1% YoY in export, respectively. Among 34 cephalosporin products produced in 2018, 23 of which experienced output decline in YoY, 14 of which dropped more than 20%. There are six products included in the National Basic Drug List (ceftriaxone Sodium, cefalexin, cefradine, ceftazidime, cefuroxime sodium and cefazolin sodium), accounting for 64% of total output of cephalosporins. The combined output of top ten cephalosporin products accounts for 85% of total output, of which ceftazidime and cefixime remain the same production volume as in 2017. The top three products with largest output are ceftriaxone Sodium, cefalexin and cefradine.

Table 3 2018 Q1-Q3 Output and Export Supply of Cephalosporins

(Hall 1D in the 82nd API China)

Source: Market Analysis on China Pharmaceutical Industry

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