On August 24, the Shanghai United Procurement Office released the results of the third batch of national centralized procurement selection. In addition to the Lamiv fixed flow standard, the remaining 55 generic name varieties were successfully bid, resulting in 125 selected companies and 191 selected drug products. The average price reduction is more than 70%, and the highest price reduction is as high as 98.7%.
But it is worth noting that in this round of volume procurement quotations, many foreign original research drug companies either abandoned the selection or the quotations far exceeded the highest effective declaration price. In the end, only 3 varieties were selected, which is the least national procurement. In this regard, some industry insiders said that most of the original research drug companies in this round have strong quotations, and basically have no willingness to cut prices to win the bid, and are suspected of "accompanying the bid" and "watching the excitement". In response to this phenomenon, how will China Procurement respond or consider in the future Focus.
The results of the third batch of mass purchases showed that 55 varieties were successfully collected this time, 191 product specifications won the bid, 189 pharmaceutical companies participated in the quotation, and 125 were selected.
Experts said that centralized procurement has become normal, and this round of decline slightly exceeded expectations. The average price of the winning bidders with reference to the highest declared price was reduced by 72%. In addition, in this purchase category, the average price of apixaban, olanzapine, finasteride (5mg), captopril, memantine, montelukast, celecoxib, and tofacitib decreased Both exceed 90%.
Among the larger varieties purchased, Tianjin Hongri and Hainan Aike won the bid for Moxifloxacin Hydrochloride and Sodium Chloride Injection, with an average price reduction of 84%; 8 pharmaceutical companies including Tianfang Pharmaceutical won the bid for metformin sustained-release tablets, with an average price reduction of 71%; Chongqing Kerui and other 8 companies won the bid for the regular-release dosage form of metformin, with an average price reduction of 84%; 5mg finasteride was won by 6 companies including Kang Enbei and Tianfang Pharmaceutical, with an average drop of 94%; Shanghai Huilun and Nanjing Zhengda Tian 6 companies including Qing won the bid for ticagrelor tablets, with an average price reduction of 83%; Eisai and Jiangxi Qingfeng won the bid for mecobalamin, with an average price reduction of 75%; 4 companies including Chengyi Pharmaceutical and Hisun Pharmaceutical won the bid for glucosamine oral long-release dosage forms , The average price reduction is 69%.
From the perspective of the treatment field, the varieties with a larger decline are concentrated in chronic diseases and common diseases. Specifically, the two chronic disease drugs metformin tablets and captopril reported prices below 1.5 cents. Qilu Pharmaceutical’s just approved sildenafil won the bid at a price of 2.08 yuan per tablet. In addition, olanzania Among the flat disintegrating tablets, Qilu Pharmaceuticals dropped from last year’s lowest bid price of 10 yuan/tablet to 0.45 yuan/tablet, a decrease of 95.5%; finasteride tablets Kang Enbei from the lowest bid price of 1.88 yuan/tablet in 2018, It fell to 0.17 yuan/piece, a decrease of 90.76%.
In terms of high-priced drugs, Sichuan Huiyu Pharmaceutical and Chia Tai Tianqing won the bids for azacitidine for injection. Compared with the winning bids of 996 in 2019, the winning bids dropped by 73.9% and 65.26%, respectively, to 260 yuan and 346 yuan; Chongqing Shenghuaxi, the winning bidder for diracetam oral solution, won the bid price of 38 yuan, which is 83.88% lower than the lowest winning price of 235.8 yuan in 2019; the winning bidder of levetiracetam injection concentrated solution was 340 yuan from the previous The price dropped to 85 yuan per piece, a decrease of 75%; Jiangsu Hausen, the winning bidder of linezolid tablets, dropped from the lowest winning price of 249.33 yuan per piece in 2017 to 46.83 yuan per piece, a decrease of 81.22%. The original research drug Pfizer dropped from 319.52 yuan/tablet to 31.25 yuan/tablet, a decrease of 90.22%; Moxifloxacin Hydrochloride and Sodium Chloride Injection won the bidding companies Tianjin Hongri and Hainan Aike, respectively from the lowest winning bid in 2017 180.19 yuan and the lowest winning bid of 245 yuan in 2019, dropped to 32.8 yuan and 35.27 yuan.
Fu Gang, vice chairman of the China Pharmaceutical Business Association and chairman of Baiyang Pharmaceutical Group, said that volume procurement will be a normal trend. A total of 81 products were collected in the first two batches, and 56 were collected in the third batch. This has significantly increased the number of products purchased from the previous batch. The fourth and fifth batches will eventually expand to about 500 products.
Industrial Securities analysts said that overall, this round of centralized procurement has not changed much from the second batch of centralized procurement, and market expectations are relatively sufficient, and its impact is gradually desensitizing. Looking forward to the future, it will gradually become the norm for generic drugs to be selected from the collections of products that have been significantly reduced in price and exchanged for volume. It will gradually become the norm to contribute a small amount of profits to companies with low gross profit margins. Except for a few varieties with higher barriers and better competitive landscape, large Some generic drugs may go through this process, and China's generic drug market gradually converges with overseas.
Many foreign-funded original research drugs take the initiative to "accompany"
Some people in the industry said that although some multinational original research drug companies are actively involved, such as Ushibi, Eisai, Teijin, and Xinji, it can be seen that more multinational pharmaceutical companies are not sincere in their quotations.
Indeed, many imported original research drugs are not only quoted directly higher than the highest declared price given by the United Procurement Office, but even directly withdrawn from centralized procurement.
Specifically, only Eisai’s mecobalamin tablets, Ushibi’s levetiracetam injection, and Pfizer’s linezolid tablets won the bids this time. Anastrozole from AstraZeneca, desloratadine from Merck, capecitabine from Roche, olanzapine orally disintegrating tablets from Eli Lilly, lamivudine from GSK (GlaxoSmithKline), and Lamivudine from Novartis The prices of azoles, Pfizer’s sertraline and other varieties are all quoted far exceeding the highest effective declaration price. At the same time, Bristol-Myers Squibb’s apixaban and captopril tablets, Boehringer Ingelheim’s ambroxol hydrochloride tablets, Bayer’s ciprofloxacin hydrochloride tablets, Astellas’ cefdinir capsules, and The six varieties of Cefaclor capsules that came here directly gave up bidding opportunities.
Take AstraZeneca’s Anastrozole (1mg) with a market share of 87.13% as an example. The price per tablet is 29.929 yuan, more than twice the maximum price of 8.8571 yuan; Eli Lilly’s olanzapine has a market share of 88.25%. The price of disintegrating tablets was 18.559 yuan, which was double the declared price; Abbott’s clarithromycin, which had a market share of 40.01%, was quoted at 6.909 yuan per tablet, which was 1163.7% higher than the highest declared price. Merck’s metformin sustained-release formulation was quoted at 1.4 yuan/tablet, which was more than 300% higher than the limit price of 0.34 yuan, and was nearly 10 times the highest quotation of 0.17 yuan/tablet of the selected product.
“This round of centralized procurement has more varieties, while the number of foreign-invested selections is relatively low." Huang Hanyang said that compared with the previous two batches of centralized procurement, the participation of foreign-funded enterprises has been significantly reduced. In the first round of 4+7 centralized procurement, although only two foreign companies, AstraZeneca (gefitinib) and BMS (fosinopril), won the bids, when the 4+7 enlistment was expanded, foreign companies selected 7 varieties. There are also 5 varieties selected in the second batch of centralized procurement of foreign capital.
The reason is that industry insiders pointed out that the unsuccessful products have seen substantial growth in the out-of-hospital market, and it is difficult to make a profit if the price is greatly reduced. According to Bayer’s semi-annual report this year, Baitang’s global sales fell by 73.8%, because in the second round of national centralized procurement in January this year, Bayer reported an ultra-low price of 0.18 yuan per piece of acarbose, resulting in Baitangping’s sales have fallen sharply.
At the same time, Pfizer’s 2020 semi-annual report shows that although Pfizer’s Lipitor and Luohuoxi failed to win the bid during the first 4+7 volume purchase at the end of 2018 and the 4+7 expansion in September 2019, Sales of these two drugs have risen against the trend.
Fu Gang said that in the context of centralized procurement, the price of some drugs has dropped by more than 70%. This behavior will cause a batch of original research drugs to withdraw from the hospital market.
In addition to the out-of-hospital market, according to Cyberlan reports, foreign pharmaceutical companies have already made certain strategic plans. Although the national centralized procurement stipulates a certain amount of procurement, such as 50%-70% of the total procurement amount, there is always a remaining part. For example, after Pfizer won the bid for centralized procurement, it has already done a re-analysis of related strategies and made a "one product, two regulations, three dosage forms" strategy to help hospitals establish a rational drug catalog, and it is recommended to retain a national centralized procurement product, and then retain An original research drug variety. On the one hand, it ensures that medical institutions can complete the task of centralized national procurement. On the other hand, when the national centralized procurement of drugs is not available, or high-end patients have demand for original research drugs, their own varieties can make up for the needs of patients.
In addition, the report also shows that for each product, foreign-funded companies help hospitals analyze patients and classify patients, which patients are suitable for national centralized medicines, and which patients are suitable for original drug products, to meet the needs of different patients; and At the same time, they are also doing large-scale Internet and dressing changes to improve patients' awareness, which will lead to an increase in other shares such as hospitals and the Internet.
Centralized procurement still needs long-term mechanism
On the one hand, it is calculating the price of generic drugs that are "fighting" on the one hand; on the other hand, it is the original research drug that increases business communication and opens up new ways; on the other hand, it is the supply that won the bid but is difficult to keep up with, and on the other it is abandoning the bid but greatly expanding the market. Some people in the industry said that my country’s national centralized procurement rules still need to be improved, and how to actually reduce drug prices is still a topic that needs to be completed.
Some insiders said that the addition of centralized procurement in the out-of-hospital market may be the focus of the next stage. Indeed, the national centralized procurement has expanded from the expansion to the expansion of varieties, and the scope of procurement has also been expanded, extending beyond public hospitals. The results of the second batch of centralized procurement have been followed up by pharmacies in some provinces, and the third batch of centralized procurement has been reported in Guangdong Province. Including retail pharmacies and private hospitals.
A few days ago, Guangdong Pharmaceutical Trading Center issued the "Announcement on Issuing the Pre-procurement Volume of the Third Batch of State-Organized Drug Centralized Procurement of Guangdong Province and the Tripartite Contract for Drug Purchase and Sale", disclosing for the first time the situation of Guangdong’s participation in the third batch of national-organized pharmaceutical pre-purchasing volume table.
It is worth noting that Guangdong took the lead in implementing simultaneous reporting of hospitals and pharmacies. From the perspective of reporting volume, a total of 28,000 pharmacies in Guangdong participated in this round of procurement. The reporting volume accounted for 45.84% of the total procurement volume in Guangdong Province, far higher than the nearly 0.11% of social medical institutions. In this context, Guangdong has become the third batch of provinces with the largest amount of reported amount of national procurement with a total amount of 2.6 billion yuan.
It is reported that in June this year, the Guangdong Provincial Medical Insurance Bureau issued a notice that all private medical institutions and retail pharmacies can voluntarily participate in the third batch of national centralized drug procurement, and pharmacies and non-public medical institutions log on to the Guangdong Provincial Drug Trading Platform for centralized reporting. As a procurement consortium, Guangdong Sanmedicine Electronic Trading Management Co., Ltd. organizes publicity and helps retail pharmacies and non-public medical institutions to jointly study the reporting policy.
From a data perspective, the most frequently reported products in Guangdong pharmacies are chronic disease drugs. Among them, the largest reported amount is sildenafil citrate tablets, followed by finasteride tablets and dapoxetine hydrochloride tablets. These three types of pharmacies have significantly higher reporting volumes than hospitals. In pharmacies, sildenafil is 1,522 times that of hospitals, Dapoxetine hydrochloride is 38 times that of hospitals, and finasteride tablets are 1.55 times that of hospitals.
It is worth mentioning that the retail market for sildenafil, which is used as a treatment for men, is much larger than the hospital market. According to data from Minaiwang, the national retail market of Sildenafil was 2.37 billion yuan in 2019, while the national hospital market was only 120 million yuan.
Because of this, the out-of-hospital market has become the main target of some original research drugs. A research report pointed out that the combination of consistency evaluation and centralized procurement is beneficial to breaking the excessively high pricing of original research companies in the Chinese market, and at the same time accelerating domestic substitution is the general trend. Whether foreign companies choose to win the bid at a low price or sell outside the hospital, they will sell most of the market. However, considering its global drug price maintenance, sales force building, and brand preferences of some patients, out-of-hospital sales may be its choice.
"For the brand-name drugs originally developed, they can't keep up with domestically produced prices, because they generally fall to 70% and 80%. Even if they are sold, they may have a larger quantity, but there is no profit." Fu Gang Said that due to differences in medication habits and consumption levels, many people still have demand for original research drugs, and their retail brands also have premiums. Then, these companies will shift their channels to the out-of-hospital market, or even the Internet port.
At the same time, Fu Gang emphasized that centralized procurement was not accomplished overnight. The third batch of centralized procurement brought about policy changes and made everyone realize that the good days of generic drugs are coming to an end. This is faster than everyone originally expected. Future changes are more worth looking forward to. But on the other hand, it is also necessary to realize that if a company wants to survive, it must continue to develop, innovate, and be at the forefront. Perhaps in the future, China will also have a number of world-class pharmaceutical companies with large enough volume and strong innovation capabilities.
Source: Chemical Network
