Centralized procurement and frequent floor price pharmaceutical companies are shortlisted and cannot lie down and win_National Organization_Drug_Production

Original title: Centralized procurement frequently finds floor price pharmaceutical companies shortlisted and unable to lie down and win

“No matter which region is selected, the procurement volume is not small. After winning the bid, it will be of great significance to pharmaceutical companies.” After the results of the seventh batch of nationally organized centralized drug procurement (hereinafter referred to as “national centralized procurement”) were officially announced, A relevant person in charge of a pharmaceutical company told the first financial reporter. It is reported that the pharmaceutical company won a total of 15 varieties in the national centralized procurement.

The person in charge said that on the one hand, the selected varieties can directly enter the hospital medical insurance channel, and the number is also guaranteed, which can be described as “easy lying flat” for sales in a certain period of time in the future, but on the other hand, because the selected varieties have extremely low profits , the original distribution teams face disbanding on the spot, and “transformation” and “innovation” will become a “sword” that always hangs on the head of pharmaceutical companies.

On July 18, the State-organized Drug Joint Procurement Office announced the official selection results of the seventh batch of national centralized drug procurement through the Shanghai Sunshine Pharmaceutical Purchasing Network. The results show that 327 products from 217 companies in the seventh batch of centralized procurement were selected, and 60 drugs were successfully purchased, with an average price reduction of 48%. According to the agreed purchase volume, it is estimated that the annual cost savings will be 18.5 billion yuan.

Faced with the results of the election, although it is still “several joys and sorrows”, the multiple rounds of centralized procurement have long been expected by pharmaceutical companies. A new round of competition for pharmaceutical companies has just begun.

Good for “new entrants”

With the continuous progress of centralized procurement, the pattern of pharmaceutical companies winning bids is different from the past. A more obvious situation is that companies with a high market share in the past were unsuccessful, while “new entrants” who were not large in size were successfully selected.

To this end, Chen Hao, director of the Drug Policy and Management Research Center of Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, said in an interview with China Business News that from the perspective of the selected structure, the distribution of pharmaceutical companies and selected products shows a “basin effect”, with the head and tail of the The success rate of pharmaceutical companies is on the rise, while the number of medium-sized pharmaceutical companies is decreasing. Overall, pharmaceutical companies have little choice.

The reporter investigated a number of winning bidders and learned that, in fact, in the past, some pharmaceutical companies had to give up the market or even cancel the approval after the price of core varieties was cut off by centralized procurement; but under this centralized procurement, many pharmaceutical companies resorted to “Do everything possible” to respond positively.

For example, some pharmaceutical companies have specially set up a “bidding team” to study the selection rules for centralized procurement and calculate the quotation in advance. Another example is that some pharmaceutical companies take the initiative to make arrangements before participating in the centralized procurement of drugs, and do a good job in the “consistency evaluation” of many of their generic drugs in advance. Once they are included in the centralized procurement, they will quickly arrange production.

The reporter learned from Renfu Medicine (600079.SH) that the pharmaceutical company selected 4 products this time, including: Omeprazole Sodium for Injection, Octreotide Acetate Injection, Metoprolol Succinate Sustained-Release Tablets, Metoprolol Hydrochloride King Kong Sustained Release Capsules.

However, it is worth noting that the two types of Metoprolol Succinate Sustained-Release Tablets and Memantine Hydrochloride Sustained-Release Capsules are both approved by the pharmaceutical company this year.

Renfu Medicine replied to the first financial reporter that, a total of 8 companies in the country participated in the quotation of metoprolol succinate sustained-release tablets, and the company won the fifth bid, “The drug was issued by the State Food and Drug Administration on July 7, 2022. The drug registration certificate of the company, and entered the bureau in the seventh batch of national drug centralized procurement, and successfully obtained the bidding qualification.” Memantine Hydrochloride Sustained-Release Capsules obtained the drug registration certificate issued by the State Food and Drug Administration in January 2022.

According to past market sales data, Renfu Medicine is a “new entrant” for the two winning bids, and the volume of the company’s main business, which focuses on the sales of narcotic analgesics, should not be large.

In this regard, Renfu Medicine said that with the normalization of national centralized procurement, the company will actively respond to national policies and actively participate in centralized procurement in combination with corporate advantages.

AstraZeneca, Zhuhai Tongyuan Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., the metoprolol tablet manufacturers with a large market share in the past, and Danish Lundbeck Pharmaceuticals (H.Lundbeck A/S) and Zhuhai United Laboratories, the memantine manufacturers Co., Ltd., according to the results of centralized procurement, none of them were shortlisted.

The reporter also saw in the result table of the seventh batch of national centralized procurement, taking Kelun Pharmaceutical (002422.SZ) as an example, its “selected enterprises” involved Sichuan Kelun Pharmaceutical, Sichuan Kelun Pharmaceutical Research Institute, Hunan Science and Technology Co., Ltd. Lun Pharmaceutical and many other entities. For this reason, industry insiders analyzed, “This situation is not uncommon, pharmaceutical companies can start preparations as soon as they are selected by cooperating with other pharmaceutical companies in the supplying provinces, and ensure production and supply as quickly as possible, eliminating the need for The cycle and process of building their own factories.”

A number of sales people in the pharmaceutical industry believe that from the results of this centralized procurement, some pharmaceutical companies’ winning products have not formed large-scale sales in the market, and some companies have not even achieved sales, and their proportion in the company’s revenue is not high. Therefore, winning the bid for this part of the product is expected not only to bring continuous heavy-volume income to the company, but also to bring the company the opportunity to overtake on the curve.

Renfu Medicine said that after the approval of Metoprolol Succinate Sustained-Release Tablets and Memantine Hydrochloride Sustained-Release Capsules, the company will complete the compliance inspection of relevant drug production quality management standards as soon as possible, and arrange production and listing according to market demand.

The results of this centralized procurement will be implemented in November 2022. This also means that there is still about 100 days (more than 3 months) of golden production period for the product from the current to November when the “cash in” supply time.

There are “countermeasures” and “transformations”

The “price reduction” under the national centralized procurement is a foregone conclusion, but the “transformation” situation faced by pharmaceutical companies is different.

Oseltamivir, the most popular flu drug in the industry, and the “ace” drug of Sunshine Pharmaceuticals (01558.HK) also encountered market changes in clinical sales terminals.

The reporter learned that in order to cope with the market changes that may be brought about by centralized procurement, on the one hand, HEC took out the “capsule” dosage form to participate in the national centralized procurement in exchange for the market share of medical insurance in the hospital. The price of about 13.16 yuan/capsule was reduced to 0.999 yuan/capsule, a drop of 92%; on the other hand, Sunshine Pharmaceuticals deployed the “granule” dosage form in pharmacies, e-commerce and other channels outside the hospital, and the price of 15mg x 10 bags decreased from 59 Ranging from $79 to $79.

From the perspective of the overall market, the market size of oseltamivir is shrinking. According to Zhongkang data, in 2021, the sales of oseltamivir in the drug retail market and high-level hospitals will drop by 71.77% and 54.95% year-on-year compared with 2020.

At the same time, HEC Pharm is facing greater market pressure, and competitors are constantly impacting the market share of HEC Pharm. In the past two years, domestic oseltamivir phosphate capsules have ushered in the market blowout period. Currently approved domestic pharmaceutical companies include Qilu Pharmaceutical, CSPC, Kelun Pharmaceutical, Chengdu Better Pharmaceutical, Borui Pharmaceutical, Shanghai Pharmaceuticals Chinese and Western pharmaceuticals, etc. Therefore, in the highly competitive “capsule dosage form” sector, HEC Pharma had to come up with products for centralized procurement “exchange price for quantity”.

An industry insider who is familiar with the sales of cold and fever drugs told the First Financial Reporter that after the oseltamivir phosphate capsules of HEC Pharmaceuticals entered the centralized procurement through price reduction, it will help to expand the hospital market, but oseltamivir is a seasonal flu drug. , the demand fluctuates with the epidemic of influenza virus.

“When the flu is not prevalent, the motivation for hospitals to purchase goods may not be so strong. After the company is shortlisted for centralized procurement, it is still unknown whether the future sales achieved at the hospital side can make up for the decline in revenue after the price cut.” The above-mentioned industry insider said.

“Influenza comes and goes quickly. A little carelessness in a company will lead to a backlog of inventory. It would be a pity if the product could not be sold and smashed.” That was the case with the flu outbreak in June. A reporter from China Business News recently visited some pharmacies in the Guangzhou area and found that oseltamivir phosphate in some pharmacies was out of stock. “Few people have bought it recently. After all, the flu has passed for the time being.” The clerk said.

Some people in the industry analyzed the first financial reporter that not all pharmaceutical companies will be deployed in the hospital and outside the hospital, which depends on the dosage form of the drug. Some injection forms that require injection are definitely not suitable for sales in out-of-hospital pharmacies and e-commerce platforms; at the same time, pay attention to outside the hospital. Sales of pharmaceutical companies must also have a strong enough brand influence, otherwise sales will be hindered.

Judging from other selected results, the price of the first-line targeted drug “Lenvatinib Capsule” for liver cancer dropped from an average of 108 yuan per capsule to 18 yuan; Yuan dropped to a minimum of 2.6 yuan; and the price of another “Palonosetron Hydrochloride Injection” used to prevent the vomiting reaction of chemotherapy also dropped from 25.6 yuan to a minimum of 2.39 yuan each.

Some people in the industry said that the price of an anticancer drug is not as good as an ice cream.

“There is almost no profit margin at such a price.” A regional distributor of Hubei Tianyao told reporters, “This time, the ‘lidocaine hydrochloride injection’ was not won in the provinces where I distribute it, which means that I lost the entire The performance of the province can only wait for the next regional or national centralized procurement before bidding; but even if the province I distribute wins, it does not require the dealer’s ‘maintenance’, and I will face the risk of being directly skipped by the manufacturer , it will be transformed no matter what.”

What kind of transformation are medical representatives seeking? The dealer told reporters that at present, he is conducting academic and scientific research cooperation with familiar clinical departments, including related subjects, the National Natural Science Foundation of China subject application, etc. Under the policy background of encouraging technology transfer, joint practice of medical achievement transformation is also a path.”

Chen Hao told Yicai that there are three ways for some medium-sized pharmaceutical companies to truly realize their transformation. It is “integration of raw materials and preparations”; in addition, pharmaceutical companies may face the choice of withdrawing from the existing market.

Zhao Heng, a partner of Latitude Health, a medical strategy consulting firm, also told reporters that centralized procurement really played a counter-attack on small businesses in the early days. With the normalization and institutionalization of centralized procurement, if large companies want to keep their market share, they will definitely cut prices significantly in the future.

“However, the original research drug is subject to the international price system, and there are not as many price cuts as generic drugs, which hinders its ability to join the centralized procurement, and can only be sold outside the hospital, gradually becoming a variety with a smaller market share.” Zhao Heng said that in the future, pharmaceutical companies still have to control costs in commercialization strategies and further win in price, of course, the premise is to ensure quality; at the same time, the way out for pharmaceutical companies lies in the layout of innovative drugs, but this is a long-term process; in addition , to increase mergers and acquisitions, through mergers and acquisitions can expand the market size, or mergers and acquisitions of innovative drug pipelines to enter the field of new drugs. Return to Sohu, see more

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