Source｜ Deep Blue Finance
Writer｜ Ruixin Wu
I used to love to answer and ignore, but now I can’t afford it. This sentence could not be more appropriate to describe ibuprofen.
As an analgesic and fever reducer, ibuprofen was once considered to be despised because it was considered to cause dependence and side effects. But now, ibuprofen has become a hot commodity, sold out by countless netizens, and even a medicine is hard to find.
Today, on Weibo, there are dozens of topics about #蓝贝贝#. Among them, #蓝洛芬真相物防消药吗# #Why everyone is hoarding ibuprofen# and other topics, with over 100 million views.
China is the world’s largest producer and exporter of ibuprofen, accounting for 1/3 of the world’s output. The data shows that in 2020, 2021 and the first half of this year, the domestic demand for ibuprofen raw materials is about 1616 tons, 1725 tons and 1565 tons respectively. The leading enterprises Xinhua Pharmaceutical and Hendi Pharmaceutical have production capacities of 8,000 tons and 3,500 tons respectively, which are more than six times the market demand of last year. If calculated according to the estimate that the demand in the second half of the year is twice that of the first half of the year, and that for the whole year is three times that of last year, half of the production capacity of these two companies can meet market demand.
What is the concept of the production capacity of 10,000 tons of raw materials? Most of the specifications of ibuprofen tablets and ibuprofen sustained-release capsules on the market are 0.1g/tablet and 0.3g/tablet. If calculated on the basis of 0.3g/capsule of sustained-release capsules, the production capacity of Xinhua Pharmaceutical and Hendy Pharmaceuticals is equivalent to supplying 38.3 billion capsules to the market.
So the question is, why can’t we buy medicines with such a large production capacity?
1
Blindly get together to hoard medicine
final destination or trash can
Ibuprofen is not like other drugs, in fact, the amount that patients need to use is not large. According to the usage and dosage of the State Food and Drug Administration, adult patients with fever need about 0.2g at a time, no more than 0.8g within 24 hours, and it should not be used for more than 3 days for antipyretic. That is, each positive case of fever can use up to 2.4g.
Take ibuprofen sustained-release capsules as an example. Most brands on the market have about 20 capsules in a box, and you can only take two capsules a day at most. One box can basically be used by three fever-positive cases. If it doesn’t improve, go to the hospital.
According to this standard, one box is enough for an average family of three. However, many people still stock up several times, or even more than ten times, when preparing medicine.
Some time ago, the bizarre operation of “online shopping for medicines in different places” suddenly appeared on the Internet: change the location to small counties in remote central and western regions such as Guangxi, Tibet, and Xinjiang, and then use Meituan and other software to place orders for drugs such as ibuprofen, and then Then let the rider express the medicine back. If the rider doesn’t comply, he threatens to give a bad review.
In the relevant strategy posts on the Internet, some netizens stockpiled dozens or even dozens of boxes of medicine.
Why is ibuprofen “hard to find”? In interviews with reporters, many raw material drug manufacturers attributed the reason to consumers hoarding goods together, resulting in a large market gap, and companies need time to go through the production cycle and distribution and transportation process. Purchasers from the retail channel believe that the short-term burst of demand and insufficient upstream production capacity are important reasons. Although pharmaceutical factories are ramping up production, they also face the risk that once the short-term demand passes, the goods may fall into their hands. The factory has set an “iron law”: products produced overtime due to the epidemic are not allowed to return in principle.
The shelf life of ibuprofen is usually 2 to 3 years. If you buy so much, if you don’t want to resell them, for ordinary people, the final destination of these medicines is likely to be the trash can.
2
Coming soon to the highest peak
Many pharmaceutical companies increase production and increase supply guarantees in many places
But for most netizens who can’t buy medicine, the truth is this, but the key is to be able to buy medicine.
And now, the peak of the epidemic has not yet been reached.
On December 17, Wu Zunyou, the chief epidemiologist of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, pointed out at the annual meeting of finance and economics that the epidemic situation this winter can be summarized as “one peak and three waves”. From mid-December to mid-January will be the first wave of epidemics. The first wave will be dominated by cities and will gradually rise. The second wave is from late January to mid-February. The movement of people before the Spring Festival caused the second wave of epidemics to rise. The third wave is from late February to mid-March, returning to work after the Spring Festival. These three waves of the epidemic constitute the peak of the new crown epidemic this winter, which lasts for about three months.
Recently, provinces such as Shandong, Jiangxi, Henan, and Zhejiang have issued official forecasts, predicting that the current round of infections will reach its peak from the end of December to mid-to-early January.
The peak has not yet come, and now there is no medicine to buy, what should I do if I get positive in the future? This makes many netizens who cannot buy medicine very anxious.
But in fact, the situation that ibuprofen is “hard to find” has begun to ease. Recently, Hubei, Shandong, Zhejiang and other places are stepping up efforts to guarantee supply to produce ibuprofen and put it on the market.
Among them, Wuhan started to release 3 million tablets of ibuprofen every day for a week starting from December 17. Jinan announced that 1.1 million tablets of ibuprofen have been released, and Zhejiang said that the daily production of ibuprofen granules has reached 40,000 boxes. , Yichang Renfu said that it does not stop the machine, and can produce 3,800 ibuprofen tablets per minute. Hefei, Nanjing, Fuzhou and other places are also distributing anti-epidemic “health packs” containing ibuprofen and other drugs.
In addition, Xinhua Pharmaceutical, Simcere Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson and many other pharmaceutical companies also chose to increase production capacity.
On December 16, in response to the shortage of fever-reducing products such as Merrill Lynch and Tylenol under Johnson & Johnson in some parts of the country, Johnson & Johnson told reporters: “Always pay attention to the current situation of epidemic prevention and control, and actively respond to the call of the government and hospitals, and fully support it.” The current medical material security work. At present, the factory of Shanghai Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. has increased its production capacity to the highest level, and is giving priority to supplying the Chinese market in the Asia-Pacific supply chain network. We are also actively promoting plans to optimize production facilities in order to further increase production capacity. “
On the same day, the 2 yuan a plate of acetaminophen tablets (paracetamol) produced by Northeast Pharmaceuticals became a hot search on Weibo. Northeast Pharmaceuticals responded in an interview with the media that it has worked overtime to produce medicines for treating fever and colds such as acetaminophen tablets, and sold them at low prices in pharmacies.
Hengrui Medicine also stated before, “We fully understand the current public demand for such drugs and will do our best to meet them. At present, the company is actively expanding production capacity according to market demand, and taking multiple measures to expand production and ensure supply and price stability. “
Source｜Deep Blue Finance and Economics, partly integrated from Sino-Singapore Jingwei, 21st Century Business Herald
Original title: The world’s largest production capacity, but we can’t buy ibuprofen