2017 OTC Drug Rankings Released: What Blockbuster Drugs were among the Top 10

The huge OTC drug market of China is a huge cake for the pharmaceutical enterprises which hope to "eat" more and seize more market shares. The "2017 China OTC Enterprise and Product Rankings" issued by China Nonprescription Medicines Association recently has attracted very extensive attention, especially those top-ranking pharmaceutical enterprises and products. Next, let’s see the details.

Table I 2017 Top 10 OTC Manufacturers by Comprehensive Ranking in China

2017 Top 10 OTC Manufacturers by Comprehensive Ranking in China is as shown in Table I, including Xiuzheng Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd., Taiji Group Co., Ltd., China Resources Sanjiu Medical & Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Dong-E-E-Jiao Co., Ltd., Yangtze River Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd., Yunnan Baiyao Group Co., Ltd., J & J’s OTC Business, Sunflower Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd., Renhe (Group) Development Co., Ltd., and Tasly Holding Group Co., Ltd. The reason for the high rankings of those pharmaceutical enterprises was because of their layout of important OTC products.

Xiuzheng Pharmaceutical ranked top among the pharmaceutical enterprises, however, it did not have many drugs listed, therefore, the pharmaceutical product layout of Xiuzheng emphasized quality over quantity. Xiuzheng’s drug for digestion: Sidashu (vitamin U, belladonna and aluminum capsules II) is a household name in China, which ranked top among chemical OTC drugs for digestion in 2017; in addition, the Feining Granules under Xiuzheng also ranked top among the Chinese patent medicines for cough relieving, phlegm resolving, and asthma relieving; Erding Granules ranked top among the Chinese patent medicines for heat clearing and detoxifying; Compound Lonicera Granules ranked third among the Chinese patent medicines for heat clearing and detoxifying; the Liu Wei Di Huang Wan (Six-Ingredient Pill with Rehmannia) under Tongyao Pharmaceutical Group controlled by Xiuzheng ranked fifth among the Chinese patent medicines for tonifying in the competition of multiple similar products.

The most important product of Taiji Group that ranked second in the above list is the Taiji Huoxiang Zhengqi Oral Liquid that ranked top among the Chinese patent medicines for common cold with summer-heat and dampness syndrome, which is being promoted vigorously inside Taiji Group, to hope to build it into a ten-billion-RMB product. Besides, the Tongtian Oral Liquid, Sinusitis Oral Liquid, and Boyun Tuiyi Wan under Taiji Group also achieved high rankings among corresponding drug categories.

By contrast, China Resources Sanjiu had a very extensive pharmaceutical product layout, and many excellent varieties listed, including 999 Cold Remedy Granules (top among the Chinese patent medicines for cold and cough), 999 Herbal Tea Granules (10^th among the Chinese patent medicines for common cold with summer-heat and dampness syndrome), 999 Strong Loquat Syrup (6^th among the Chinese patent medicines for cough relieving, phlegm resolving, and asthma relieving), 999 Radix Isatidis Granules (8^th among the Chinese patent medicines for heat clearing and detoxifying), 999 Weikang Granules/Capsules (4^th among the Chinese patent medicines for digestion), 999 Qizhi Weitong Granules (9^th among the Chinese patent medicines for digestion), 999 Zhengtian Pills/Capsules (7^th among the drugs for headaches and insomnia), Tianhe Gutong Patches (5^th among the Chinese patent medicines for orthopedics), 999 Pediatric Cold Granules (6^th among the Chinese patent medicines for pediatric cold and cough), 999 Pediatric Cough Syrup (8^th among the Chinese patent medicines for pediatric cold and cough), Zizhu Propolis Oral Cavity Membrane (7^th among the Chinese patent medicines for ENT), 999 Piyanping (4^th among the chemical drugs for dermatology), Shunfeng Kangwang (9^th among the chemical drugs for dermatology), 999 Pediatric Paracetamol, Artificial Cow-bezoar and Chlorphenamine Maleate Granules (6^th among the chemical drugs for pediatrics), and Levonorgestrel Tablets (2^nd among the chemical drugs for lifestyle).

Unexpectedly, Dong-E-E-Jiao Co., Ltd. that ranked fourth in the above list only had Dong-E Donkey-hide Gelatin ranked (1^st among the Chinese patent medicines for Qi tonifying and blood replenishing), which benefited from the improvement of people’s living standard in recent years: their demand for the tonifying drugs increases greatly, leading to the significant increase of sales of tonifying drugs such as donkey-hide gelatin.

Besides the above pharmaceutical enterprises, Yangtze River Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd., Yunnan Baiyao Group Co., Ltd., J & J’s OTC Business, Sunflower Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd., Renhe (Group) Development Co., Ltd., and Tasly Holding Group Co., Ltd. all had blockbuster drugs listed, such as the Yunnan Baiyao series products of Yunnan Baiyao Group Co., Ltd., Sunflower Pediatric Lung Heat Cough Oral Liquid/Granules under Sunflower Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd., and Yangxue Qingnao Granules/Pills under Tasly all ranking top among corresponding drug categories.

A pharmaceutical enterprise must have a reasonable drug variety layout if it is to have an invincible position on China’s OTC drug market and seize larger market shares. From the above analysis, we can see some enterprises walking on the quality route while some walking on the extensive layout route, however, the routes eventually lead to the same destination.

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