Best-selling Ophthalmic Drugs in China | Market Wrap 2021

The year 2021 has seen a remarkable growth of the ophthalmic drug market in China. The market size of chemical drugs for eye diseases is estimated to exceed 3.5 billion yuan (circa 549 million USD), with a year-on-year growth of 1.89%.¹

Ophthalmic Drugs: Market Numbers

Among the best-selling eye disease drugs, Naphazoline Hydrochloride, Chlorphenamine Maleate and Vitamin B12 Eye Drops took the champion with over 400 million yuan (about 62.76 million USD) in sales value.

There are 13 ophthalmic drugs which realizes more than 100 million yuan (about 15.68 million USD) in sales. The top four are all for relieving dry or tired eyes. Bendazac Lysine Eye Drops, for treating early-stage senile cataract, ranked the fifth. The other eight are mainly antibiotic eye drops.

13 Ophthalmic Drugs with More than 100 million Yuan Sales Value in China in 2021 Source: Menet Database
No.	Drug (Generic Name)	Therapeutic Area	Sales Value (million)
1	Naphazoline Hydrochloride, Chlorphenamine Maleate and Vitamin B12 Eye Drops	Tired eyes, conjunctival congestion, and eye irritation	≥ 400
2	Sodium Hyaluronate Eye Drops	Dry eye syndrome	≥ 300
3	Compound Aspartate, Vitamin B6 and Dipotassium Glycyrrhetate Eye Drops	Tired eyes and conjunctival congestion	≥ 300
4	Polyvinyl Alcohol Eye Drops	Dry eyes	≥ 200
5	Bendazac Lysine Eye Drops	Early-stage senile cataract	≥ 100
6	Ofloxacin Eye Drops	Eye infections, conjunctivitis, and keratitis	≥ 100
7	Erythromycin Eye Ointment		≥ 100
8	Levofloxacin Eye Drops		≥ 100
9	Levofloxacin Hydrochloride Eye Drops		≥ 100
10	Chlortetracycline Hydrochloride Eye Ointment		≥ 100
11	Chloramphenicol Eye Drops		≥ 100
12	Compound Chondroitin Sulfate Eye Drops	Dry and tired eyes	≥ 100
13	Compound Allantoin Vitamin B6-E and Aminoethylsulfonic Acid Eye Drops	Dry eyes and ocular discomfort	≥ 100
*Notes:* The same type of eye drops produced by different companies are counted as one type under one generic name.

If categorizing drugs by their companies, Mentholatum's Compound Aspartate, Vitamin B6 and Dipotassium Glycyrrhetate Eye Drops topped the list with over 200 million yuan in sales value.

Seven Ophthalmic Drug Products with More than 100 million Yuan Sales Value in China in 2021 Source: Menet Database
No.	Drug	Company (HQ Location)	Sales Value (million)
1	Compound Aspartate, Vitamin B6 and Dipotassium Glycyrrhetate Eye Drops	Mentholatum (China) Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. (US)	≥ 200
2	Polyvinyl Alcohol Eye Drops	Hubei Yuanda Tiantianming Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. (China)	≥ 200
3	Naphazoline Hydrochloride, Chlorphenamine Maleate and Vitamin B12 Eye Drops	Shandong Bausch & Lomb Freda Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Canada)	≥ 200
4	Sodium Hyaluronate Eye Drops	URSAPHARM Arzneimittel GmbH (Germany)	≥ 100
5	Levofloxacin Eye Drops	Santen Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Japan)	≥ 100
6	Bendazac Lysine Eye Drops	Zhejiang Shapuaisi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (China)	≥ 100
7	Sodium Hyaluronate Eye Drops	Santen Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Japan)	≥ 100

Outlook: China's Ophthalmic Market Has Huge Potential

1. The eye care needs are enormous and growing.

China has numerous eye disease patients. As the Chinese population continues aging and the increasing use of electronic devices, the ophthalmic market shows great potential of ophthalmic medical services, devices, and medicines.

Main Eye Diseases in China in 2018 Source: TF securities
Disease Categories			Patients (million)	Main Treatment
Inducing Non-blindness	Ametropia	Myopia or near-sightedness	630	Corneal Reshaping Contact Lenses (for patients aged 8 to 18); laser eye surgery (for patients aged 18 to 50)
		Hyperopia or farsightedness	70	/
	Dry eye syndrome	Aqueous tear deficiency (ATD)	141	Artificial tears, Cyclosporin Eye Drops, etc.
		Meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD)	101
		Mixed dry eye	48
Not Inducing Blindness	Cataract	Congenital cataract	76.35	Artificial intraocular lens implantation surgery
		Acquired cataract	133
	Glaucoma	Open-angle glaucoma	1.12	Eye pressure
		Angle-closure glaucoma	9.8
	Age-related macular degeneration (AMD)	Exudative AMD	3	Anti–vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)
		Dry AMD	18.4	/

China's ophthalmic drug market, though smaller than those of ophthalmic services and devices, still has impressive sales value numbers. With considerable size and potential, the Chinese market is attracting international eye medicine makers.

Santen Pharmaceutical decided to build manufacturing sites in Suzhou, a city in eastern China. As Mr. Takayuki Yamada, the company's head of China business, says, their business in China is increasing and has taken up 60% of those in Asia-Pacific.³

2. The Chinese government supports eye health with the social healthcare insurance system.

China encourages eye medicine R&D and applies R&D achievements to clinical settings, as shown in the National Eye Health Plan During the 13th Five Year Period (2016-2020) and Comprehensive Implementation Plan for Preventing and Controlling Myopia in Children and Teenagers.

China also includes more eye medicines into the national reimbursement drug list (NRDL) to make the drugs affordable to patients under the social healthcare insurance system. The latest 2021 NRDL adds the Cyclosporin Eye Drops (II), a drug for treating dry eye syndrome.

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