The troubles of modern people's hair loss are giving birth to a 100 billion market.
According to data released by the National Health and Medical Commission, more than 250 million people in China are suffering from hair loss, with an average of 1 in 6 people losing hair.
When people lamented that "the first batch of post-00s started to lose their hair" and were troubled by these things on the top of their heads, the "hair loss economy" covering wigs, toiletries, medicines, hair transplants and other categories gradually became popular.
According to the Everbright Securities Research Report, according to Frost & Sullivan's forecast, the size of China's hair health service market will reach 138.1 billion yuan in 2030.
In this 100 billion market, major domestic pharmaceutical companies are also stepping up their deployment of gold nuggets.
Hair loss tends to be younger, drug treatment is the basis
"According to the current data, the average age of hair loss in China is about 30 years old, which is 20 years earlier than the previous generation. There are also many young people who start to lose hair. The youngest patient I have seen has started to appear at the age of 14. Androgenetic alopecia ("androgenic alopecia" for short)." Recently, Wu Wenyu, deputy director of the Department of Dermatology, Huashan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University, introduced in an interview with a reporter from The Paper (www.thepaper.cn) that the problem of rejuvenation of hair loss is very obvious.
Wu Wenyu pointed out that the problem of hair loss has both medical and cosmetic attributes, and it not only improves life and health, but also meets the needs of patients' mental health.
A very important reason for the rapid development of the hair loss market in recent years is that the economic level has improved, people's requirements for appearance have increased, and attention has been paid to this type of hair loss disease.
Hair loss includes growth period baldness, cicatricial alopecia, alopecia areata, androgenic alopecia, etc. The most common is the "androgenic alopecia" mentioned by Wu Wenyu, accounting for more than 90% of all types of hair loss.
According to the "Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Androgenetic Alopecia in China", in China, the prevalence of androgenetic alopecia is about 21.3% in men and about 6% in women.
That is, one in five men suffers from androgenesis.
The growing concern about hair loss has driven the growth of consumer demand for hair loss prevention and treatment.
In terms of treatment drugs, the recently released "China Male Alopecia Research Insights Report" shows that people with middle and high education have higher demand for hair loss drugs. Among non-prescription drug buyers, college students account for 49% and graduate students account for 17%; prescription drug purchases Among them, college students accounted for 50.54%, and graduate students accounted for 17.64%.
For the treatment of androstosis, including surgical treatment, drug treatment, adjuvant treatment and other means, the commonly used drug treatment includes two categories of oral 5α-reductase inhibitors and external vasodilators.
Wu Wenyu emphasized that the combination of oral and topical medication is the basic plan of choice for hair loss treatment. Continued medication is required before and after hair transplantation, in order to maintain the growth of non-transplanted hair in the alopecia area.
Wu Wenyu also reminded that androstosis is a progressive disease that cannot be relieved on its own, and must be intervened through scientific methods, and more than 90% of patients with androgenesis can be significantly improved through drug treatment.
Pharmaceutical companies have stepped up their efforts in the field of drugs
For Xiongtuo, pharmaceutical companies were not absent.
Take 3SBio (1530.HK), a Hong Kong-listed company, as an example. Its core product, minoxidil tincture, was an over-the-counter hair loss drug that was launched in mainland China in 2001.
The 2021 annual report shows that in terms of sales, it has a dominant 71.2% market share in the minoxidil tincture market in mainland China.
A-share listed company Zhendong Pharmaceutical (300158.SZ) has undergone tremendous changes before and after the layout of hair loss drugs.
At the beginning of 2021, Zhendong Pharmaceutical announced that it plans to spin off its subsidiary Ante Pharmaceuticals, because the company mainly focuses on "digestive tract drugs", and its key products are colloidal bismuth pectin capsules, and its minoxidil liniment for the treatment of hair loss. The sales in the past few years were poor, and it was not the main product of Zhendong Pharmaceutical, and Ante Pharmaceuticals showed a loss from 2018 to 2020.
But less than half a year later, in June 2021, Zhendong Pharmaceutical announced again that due to the attention paid to medical beauty topics such as male medical beauty and hair loss economy, Ante Pharmaceutical changed its losses in previous years, and its sales grew rapidly this year, so it terminated the previously planned divestiture The Antares deal.
In the latest 2022 semi-annual report, Zhendong Pharmaceutical did not directly disclose the sales of this hair loss drug, but mentioned that this hair loss drug is the core product.
In addition to the mature anti-androgenic drugs already on the market, new treatments for androgenic alopecia are also constantly advancing.
The Everbright Securities Research Report pointed out that there are more than 20 new drugs under development in the world for androgen alopecia.
In China, the pioneering pharmaceutical industry is in the forefront.
On August 3, Kintor Pharmaceuticals (9939.HK) announced that its self-developed topical androgen receptor (AR) antagonist, furitinib (KX-826), was a Phase II clinical trial in the United States for the treatment of male androgenetic alopecia. Enrollment of all 121 patients was completed on August 1, 2022.
In China, Kintor Pharmaceuticals is advancing the Phase III clinical trial of the drug.
Earlier in early 2022, Heqirui Medicine announced that its first-in-class new monoclonal antibody drug HMI-115, which it has global rights to, has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a Phase II clinical trial application for the treatment of androstosis.
Ogalon, which was spun off from the multinational pharmaceutical giant Merck in 2021, currently also has an oral drug finasteride tablet for the treatment of androgenesis in China.
Regarding the current opportunities in China's hair loss market, Lin Yuwei, vice president of the marketing department of the Chinese classic brand of the multinational pharmaceutical company Ojialong, introduced to the surging news reporter that no matter from the perspective of medicine, consumer habits, or affordability, the field of hair loss must be It is a very important area for the next ten or twenty years.
Ojialong noticed that there are many local innovative drugs in the field of hair loss in China, and there are various innovative treatment methods.
In the entire pharmaceutical industry, it can be seen that the integration of local innovative drugs with international standards has become a trend, and there will also be such opportunities in the field of hair loss.
Ogallon China is also paying attention to possible domestic cooperation opportunities.
How do hair loss drugs make their way to retail?
In addition to new treatments, another new manifestation of hair loss drugs is in channels: the Internet has gradually become a "new scene" for hair loss diagnosis and treatment, and the sales of online hair loss drugs have continued to grow.
The 2021 annual report shows that Zhendong Pharmaceutical’s hair loss products have sales of 303 million yuan in all terminal channels, of which online sales account for 64%, retail pharmacies account for 18%, hospital terminals account for 14%, and hair transplant institutions account for 4%; three In addition to covering more than 2,000 medical institutions in mainland China, Sheng Pharmaceutical's hair loss products also cover nearly 65,000 retail pharmacies and Internet sales platforms such as Tmall and JD.
The "China Male Baldness Research Insight Report" also mentioned a set of data: the transaction value of JD.com's healthy hair loss treatment prescription drugs increased by 26% in the fourth quarter of 2021 compared with the third quarter of 2021, and the second quarter of 2022 compared with the previous quarter. up 34%.
Wang Yiting, general manager of JD's health and pharmaceutical business department, introduced to The Paper that the data shows that the transaction value of JD's healthy hair loss treatment prescription drugs is showing an increasing trend, and popular categories such as hair health will indeed grow faster than ordinary categories.
There are many prescription drugs for hair loss, why are they more popular in retail?
Lin Yuwei analyzed to reporters that as a chronic disease, some patients would not consider it a disease. In addition, the current distribution of medical resources such as hair clinics is not balanced. Many people will not seek help from professional doctors at first, but are willing to seek medical help. The out-of-hospital market seeks solutions.
A problem that cannot be ignored is that the products and concepts related to hair loss in the out-of-hospital market are very complex, and patients are likely to encounter some irregularities.
Wang Yiting believes that each sub-category has its own value. It should be noted that because the problem of hair loss has medical properties, many individuals cannot make accurate judgments.
All medical-related matters need to be further strictly controlled, and all parties should work together to convey correct health knowledge to the target audience.
The rise of hair loss drugs on the retail side has also put forward higher requirements for pharmaceutical companies, not only to provide better innovative drugs, but also to provide better solutions for patients.
Lin Yuwei pointed out that the field of hair loss is a disease field that needs to be viewed with chronic disease thinking. Not only should we pay attention to front-end diagnosis and treatment, but also how to allow patients to continue to use medication to obtain better curative effects.
From the perspective of pharmaceutical companies, we hope to create an ecosystem for hair loss, and we hope that this ecosystem will continue to expand and become more complete.