Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) continue to be the leading cause of death globally, with China being no exception. As domestic companies are mostly involved in providing generic drugs for CVDs, China is heavily reliant on foreign players. Against this backdrop, key foreign players will play a crucial role in improving the overall cardiovascular disease management approach in China, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

According to GlobalData’s Pharmaceutical Intelligence Center, the total number of diagnosed prevalent cases of CVDs such as dyslipidemia and heart failure in China are expected to increase at compound annual growth rates of 1.5% and 1.6%, respectively, during 2021 to 2025.

Neha Myneni, Pharma Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “The rising prevalence of CVDs in China could take a heavy toll on public health. In the current scenario where the COVID-19 cases are increasing, disease management is the need of the hour for CVD patients in whom the infection could lead to severe complications.”

To address this issue, key players in China’s CVD market like Novartis and Bayer are adopting various strategic approaches, including enhancing their research and development and manufacturing capabilities, and novel drugs launch.

As a strategy to expedite the local approval process for its innovative therapies, Novartis is conducting a geography-specific clinical trial for Leqvio (inclisiran), through which it is assessing the real-world effectiveness of the drug in Chinese patients with primary hypercholesterolemia or mixed dyslipidemia (NCT05118230).

Leqvio, being the first and only small interfering RNA therapy approved in over 60 countries globally for the treatment of hypercholesterolemia, is expected to address the key issue associated with CVD management in China, i.e., the need for better adherence to therapy, as Leqvio is injected only twice a year.

Bayer’s Verquvo (vericiguat) was approved in China for the treatment of patients with chronic heart failure and reduced ejection fraction in May 2022. In 2020, Bayer has invested in a new production and supply facility in Beijing to support its CVD and diabetes medicines supply in the country.

Novartis collaborated with the China Cardiovascular Association in 2017 to implement the ‘Heart Failure Center’ project to provide standardized heart failure diagnosis and treatment and reduce the associated re-hospitalization and mortality. The company co-developed ‘AI Nurse’, an AI-based disease management platform for CVD patients in China, in collaboration with Tencent, to address the issue of post-hospital treatment compliance in CVD patients by alerting them to signs of disease worsening.

Myneni concludes: “With a strong portfolio of marketed products and a global pipeline of late-stage novel molecules like pelacarsen sodium, inclisiran, and finerenone, western companies are expected to maintain their growth momentum in the Chinese CVD market. As a result, the strategic approaches adopted by key foreign companies are expected to improve the overall CVD management approach in China and help patients get a better treatment outcome.”