According to the CPA, the hospital purchase of cardiovasculars grew fast in 2004 and 2005, peaking in the fourth quarter of 2005.  The hospital purchase of such products then started to fall in the first two quarters of 2006, but growth resumed in the last two quarters. 

The three leading subclasses within the therapeutic category of cardiovasculars are heart disease drugs, peripheral vasodilation drugs, and calcium channel blockers - together they represent 68.56% of the total cardiovascular drug purchase by CPA monitored representative hospitals in 2006.  The hospital drug purchase of heart disease drugs fell 4.98% last year, while those of vasodilation drugs and calcium channel blockers rose 6.13% and 11.4% respectively. 

The renin-angiotensin-aldosterone drug was the fastest growing subclass with 22.25% growth in 2006, followed by blood vessel protectors (+14.08%), anti-cholesterol drugs (+13.96%) and calcium channel blockers (+11.40%).  Hypertensives, however, fell sharply by 17.44% in the year. 

The following table shows the share and growth of all the cardiovascular subclasses in 2006.

Source: CPA

The sharp rise of renin-angiotensin-aldosterone subclass was led by the fast growth of angiotensin II receptor antagonists (+44.17%), which were taking over hospital market shares of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs), largely due to their better adverse drug reaction profiles. 

The subclass of heart disease drugs is composed of five minor groups, cardiac glycosides, antiarrhythmics, heart performance drugs, angiotenic drugs and other heart disease drugs.  The minor group of other heart disease drugs was not only the largest minor group, but also had the highest growth in 2006 in the subclass. A number of leading cardiovascular drugs were in this minor group.  Hospital purchase of the minor group of angiotenic drugs grew steadily while that of antiarrhythmics fell in the year.

In the subclass of peripheral vasodilation, traditional Chinese medicines such as Gegensu and Dansen dominated the subclass with a growth rate of 6.13% in 2006.

Calcium channel inhibitors are believed by local experts to have good future growth prospects due to its fast action, reliability and non-interference with blood flow volume. The subclass is dominated by selective calcium channel inhibitors for vasodilatation.

Among the top ten cardiovascular drugs by hospital purchase value, seven of them are pharmaceutical chemicals (Western medicines) with a share of 74.70% and three are traditional Chinese medicines with a share of 25.3% in total hospital purchase of top ten cardiovascular products.

The No.1 cardiovascular drug by purchase value in Chinese hospitals is Amlodipine, which saw hospital purchase growth of 8.28% in 2006. The market for this product continues to be dominated by Pfizer’s Norvasc, despite expiry of its administrative protection in China.

Dansen is the fastest growing cardiovascular traditional Chinese medicine in the hospital market with an explosive growth of 86.38% in 2006.

Hospital drug purchase of compound co-enzyme preparations and nifedipine also grew sharply last year, while that of fructose diphosphate, sodium cytidine triphosphate and alprostadil fell considerably

The following table shows the leading ten cardiovascular drugs in Chinese hospitals in 2006.

Source: CPA                                          * Representative Hospitals