Tu Jun, Blue Whale Finance
"Staying up late and working overtime will not hurt your liver", "Drinking and socializing will not hurt you", and men, especially middle-aged men, are joining the ranks of liver nourishing in the pursuit of becoming "high-quality men of mankind".
According to the report of Epidemiology and Disease Burden of Liver Diseases in China, there are about 400 million patients with liver diseases in China, including 60 million patients with alcoholic liver disease and about 200 million patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.
On the Jingdong Health Care Channel, the maintenance preparation with the concept of "relieving the burden of the liver and maintaining the vitality of the body" - "liver purification bottle" has become popular quietly. Its price of nearly 1000 yuan for a course of treatment is not cheap. What is the reason for the popularity? Is it an IQ tax?
Is it an IQ tax for the popular products in the field of liver protection?
"One block, two clean, three-dimensional liver protection"; "Cholesterol, transaminase and triglyceride decreased"; The selling price of one bottle is 1249 yuan, and the quantity of one bottle is one month. Are you willing to spend more than 1000 yuan per month for liver protection?
Recently, on the JD platform, a health product called "Happy Liver" has become popular. According to public data, "Happy Liver" was born in Harvard Boston Laboratory, and with its characteristics of "removing turbid clear oil, controlling fat and soothing liver", it has become popular in markets all over the world and in the rich circles in Europe and the United States. Now the popularity of the Asian market has led to a sharp increase in the sales of this product in JD International, with the shipment volume increasing dozens of times, and quickly becoming the new favorite of middle-aged men. "
However, this product only disclosed the progress made in the mouse experiment. In its press release, it pointed out that the research found that mice who had ingested the core ingredients of Leqing Liver for 12 consecutive weeks showed a significant positive trend in such indicators as blood lipids and total cholesterol. However, it did not disclose whether it had conducted corresponding human experiments.
On the detail page of its content, the product is "patent+clinical double certification", but how the specific clinical trial is conducted is not clearly stated on the detail page. When consulting customer service personnel, Lanjing Finance said that the other party had conducted human experiments, but little knowledge of specific experiments.
As for the principle of this product, the customer service replied that Le Qing Gan is a dual link to help improve liver cells and fatty liver. First of all, the patented ingredients decompose and excrete cholesterol in the intestinal tract, thereby helping to reduce the burden on the liver and prevent fat production; At the same time, amino acid combination and lycopene can deepen nutrition, accelerate liver metabolism and detoxification, and assist in liver purification.
However, in fact, Leqinggan is a dietary supplement, not a drug, and cannot replace drugs to treat diseases. Some experts pointed out that regular health care products are not drugs, and they can only play a supporting role. It is pseudoscience to rely on health products to improve fatty liver. For people with sensitive constitution and abnormal liver function, excessive use of health care products can sometimes increase the burden on the liver, which is counterproductive.
Is it recommended to take liver protection tablets for fatty liver? Xie Min, the chief physician of the Department of Gastroenterology of Wenzhou Integrated Traditional and Western Medicine Hospital, said on the interactive platform that it was not recommended because the evidence-based medicine basis of Hugan Tablets was insufficient. In the early stage of simple fatty liver, under the condition of normal liver function, there is generally no need for drug treatment, but only need to adjust the diet structure and living habits and moderate exercise. If the weight exceeds the standard, we need to control the weight to lose weight, which can be effectively improved. In the stage of steatohepatitis, if transaminase and bilirubin increase, it is necessary to take drugs with liver protection and enzyme lowering effects, such as bicyclol, under the guidance of doctors.
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease has become a black hole in research and development, and the liver protection track has a blowout trend
Fatty liver means that the fat content of the liver is beyond the normal range. In western countries, fatty liver is mostly related to alcohol abuse, while in China, fatty liver is mostly related to obesity. The prevalence of fatty liver in China has reached 30%. Fatty liver associated with obesity is nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and metabolic dysfunction associated steatohepatitis (MASH) is the result of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in its advanced stage. MASH accounts for 15% - 25%. At present, the most important clinical treatment for MASH is to lose weight.
Recently, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accelerated the approval of Resmetirom (trade name: Rezdiffra) developed by Madrigal Pharmaceuticals to market for the treatment of patients with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH, now called metabolic dysfunction related steatohepatitis "MASH") accompanied by liver fibrosis. This is the first innovative drug approved by FDA to treat MASH.
According to the prediction of the Global Liver Institute, 357 million people in the world will be affected by MASH in 2030.
Frost Sullivan's data shows that the global MASH drug market is expected to reach US $10.7 billion in 2025 and will grow to US $32.2 billion by 2030. Like Alzheimer's disease, the etiology of MASH is complex, the pathogenesis has not yet been clarified, and the research and development of innovative drugs is very difficult. It is called the "research and development black hole" in the industry. Gilead, Novartis, Bristol Myers Squibb and many other multinational pharmaceutical companies have failed in research and development in this field, and there is a huge unmet demand in the global MASH patient group.
In the Wisdom Bud Global New Drug Information Base, there are 445 drugs in the world with under research indications including MASH, and 125 drugs in China with under research indications including MASH. There are many domestic pharmaceutical enterprises in the layout of MASH new drug research and development through self research or authorized introduction, and the representative enterprises are Geli, Cinda Biology, Zhongsheng Pharmaceutical, Chia Tai Tianqing, Hisco, etc.
On the one hand, the drugs developed have not yet been approved, and on the other hand, the consumer side has begun to blowout. According to Toubao's data, the liver care industry has shown a rapid growth in market demand. According to the analysis of sales data, the sales of liver care and liver care products on Taobao Tmall's platform will grow by 329.7% year-on-year in September 2022, and the sales will continue to rise in the past year.
This growth rate reflects the growing consumer demand for protecting and nourishing the liver. The driving factors of growth include the development of domestic biotechnology and medical technology, the improvement of public awareness of health, and the irregular living habits brought about by the accelerated pace of life. In addition, the market has a stable preference for a wide range of product categories, especially in the high-end trend of product composition and process level favored by consumers.
The liver protection product industry is mainly divided into two categories in terms of functional mechanism: treatment and health care. Therapeutic products provide clinical treatment for liver diseases that have occurred, such as drug-induced liver injury and chronic hepatitis B. Health care products are aimed at preventing liver diseases and maintaining liver health, such as preventing liver injury and improving fibrosis. In addition, liver protection products can also be classified according to ingredients, such as traditional formulas containing Chinese medicine ingredients and modern formulas containing specific nutrients. According to the market data, the number of related enterprises has reached more than 300, and the top ten enterprises occupy the main market share.
