From ibuprofen, montmorillonite powder, gamma globulin, oximeter to coenzyme Q10, drugs and medical devices related to epidemic prevention have experienced different stages of urgent need, rush, price increase and price decline.
01
Store traffic skyrocketed during the stock - up period
Now the price of oximeter, N95 and so on has plummeted
Today (January 16), "N95 mask oximeter price plunge" hit the Weibo trending search, many people ridicule the price of oximeter and N95, the mood is like a stock drop, and some even said "the plunge is not as fast as your price drop!"
As many countries announced that the peak of COVID-19 infections has passed, the prices of medical supplies have plummeted. Some manufacturers said to Cyber Blue, now the finger clip type of blood oxygen instrument is 65 yuan/a lot cheaper.
Half a month ago, Cyber Blue asked the manufacturer of blood oxygen instrument price, or 90 yuan/a. More importantly, the oximeter has been ordered after the Spring Festival, the manufacturer said that the quantity is too small to accept the order.
Now, in the face of a steep drop in oximeter prices, the manufacturer said, "In fact, it is hot for a while."
On Jingdong platform, with the keyword search of "oximeter" and "N95", it is found that most of the oximeter are in stock at present, and the price of oximeter has fallen to more than 100 yuan. A oximeter (contec Kangtai monitoring oximeter) CMS50D with an evaluation of more than 1 million yuan is currently priced at 128 yuan/piece; The price of N95 masks has also appeared in the independent packaging of 36 yuan, 50 pieces, the average price is less than 1 yuan; Some N95 masks are already priced at 0.6 yuan per mask.
At the same time, brick-and-mortar pharmacies saw a surge in customer flow during the "stocking up" period, with many pharmacy staff at one point too busy to respond to messages.
As the enthusiasm for stocking up cooled down, the operator of a pharmacy chain in Hebei told Cyberan that "now the customer flow of the pharmacy is much less". Tang Ming, the owner of a single pharmacy in Jiangsu, also said: "Recently, I am not too busy, and the customer flow is much less."
Tang Ming revealed that among all kinds of epidemic prevention supplies, the price of antigen detection reagent is the first to fall.
"My purchase price on December 6 (2022) is 2.3 yuan per copy." According to his recall, later contact with antigen manufacturers, "(manufacturers) directly do not accept the order, only from other channels' pour '."
Also from this time, the antigen price began to rise, "cheap about 5 pieces, expensive heard are into more than 8 pieces, but also almost no tickets."
"About a week ago, it came back down, and now the drugstore charges about $3."
However, in an online pharmacy, the coupon of antigen detection reagent for 25 people costs less than 63 yuan, about 2.5 yuan per copy, which is lower than the purchase price of some pharmacies.
Then four categories of drug prices fell.
"Now there are very few customers to stock up, very few, occasionally one or two to prepare for diarrhea medicine." In terms of medical supplies, "some best-selling products, such as Ganganling granules, are still out of stock, and others are almost available."
But there are some exceptions. Tang said children's antipyretic drugs, such as Meilin and Tylenol, are still difficult to buy, and prices of these drugs have fluctuated the most among the four categories. "The highest price is about three or four times, such as 25 yuan for a 30ml pack of Merrill Lynch, and more than 80 yuan for the most expensive."
Among the suppliers Tang Ming contacted, "thermometers and oximeters are still more expensive than before", but judging from the trend of other products, he thinks "it will take some time to return to normal".
02
The availability of montmorillonite powder, masks, etc., has been improved
There is still a rush for drugs with longer lead times
The reasons for the price drop vary widely among different supplies. Take medicine for example, the price rise in a short period of time should not only take into account the market supply and demand, but also take into account the various links of the pharmaceutical production chain, such as the price increase of raw materials, the production conditions of workers in pharmaceutical companies, logistics, packaging and so on.
Some drugs with shorter lead times, such as montmorillonite powder, experienced short periods of shortages and quickly became available. As one of the manufacturers, Cimen Pharmaceutical has said to Cyperblue that the entire production cycle of montmorillonite powder containing inspection time is eight days, the most important and time-consuming is the production of montmorillonite raw materials, this time will be longer.
The same is true of "N95 mask". In the case of short supply, the price of mask skyrocketed, and it was even called "golden mask". After the buying tide subsided, the price gradually recovered to normal, and a large number of manufacturers among them went out of business or suspended production.
However, another issue to consider when stocking up is product effectiveness. According to the Wuhan Market Supervision, the validity period of disposable masks is usually two to three years, while that of N95 masks is about five years. After the expiration of masks, the protective effect gradually decreases over time.
Currently, the prices of epidemic prevention drugs and supplies that take a long time to produce are still high. Recently, on social media platforms, many people are still asking for human immunoglobulin for intravenous injection, whose price has risen from several hundred yuan to more than 2,000 yuan.
In a research report, CITIC Securities analyzed that given the small differences in the production processes of blood products manufacturers, it is estimated that the production cycle of different blood products manufacturers will be relatively close, and the main factors affecting the length of product production cycle are product testing and batch issuance system. According to the data published by Viopiobiol, the production cycle of human immunoglobulin for intravenous injection is more than 100 days, including the time of product verification and batch issuance.
In addition, searches for "coenzyme Q10" have skyrocketed in recent days, mainly because many people believe that coenzyme Q10 can prevent the occurrence of myocarditis after Yangkang.
Ruan Guangfeng, deputy director of the Kexin Food and Health Information Exchange Center and member of the Expert Committee of the China Internet Dispelling Rumors Platform, explained that human life depends on many biochemical reactions, such as respiration and metabolism, which all require enzymes to participate in. And the job of enzymes is to make these reactions happen faster, better, more efficiently, and coenzymes are actually the assistants of these enzymes, they are the helpers. There are many kinds of coenzymes in the human body, and coenzyme Q10 is just one of them.
Whether it is drugs or medical devices, there will never be a shortage of people in need in the market, but whether everyone really needs it, we still need to keep a rational attitude. After montmorillonite powder, norfloxacin, intravenous human immunoglobulin is "hot" one by one, and gradually cooling, who will be the next price?
