China-based Green Valley’s Alzheimer’s drug Oligomannate set to capitalize on massive patient pool, says GlobalData

China's National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) has recently approved Shanghai Green Valley Pharmaceuticals’ (Green Valley) brown algae-extracted drug–Oligomannate (GV-971)–for mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease. Against this back drop, the company is well positioned to capitalize in a market with a massive patient pool and little competition, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company. 

Oligomannate is the first novel drug approved for Alzheimer's disease globally since 2003. Oligomannate is derived from brown seaweed and was developed after observations that elderly individuals with high consumption of seaweed demonstrated lower rates of Alzheimer’s disease.

In Chinese clinical trials, the drug was found to be effective at improving cognitive function in cases of mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease. However, international scientists have considered Oligomannate’s clinical trials to be scant on details.  

David Brown, Healthcare Analyst at GlobalData, says: “Oligomannate’s efficacy has not yet been compared to that of other Alzheimer’s treatments and the long-term effects of Oligomannate treatment are currently unknown.”  

Even though there is global skepticism surrounding the drug’s efficacy, Green Valley plans to conduct global phase 3 trials with sites in the US, Europe and other parts of Asia in early 2020. 

Brown concludes: “Shanghai Green Valley Pharmaceuticals is well positioned to capitalize on a market with a massive patient pool and little competition, although global clinical trials will be required to prove the utility of Oligomannate as a viable treatment for Alzheimer’s disease beyond China’s borders.” 

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