In recent years, the issue of drug prices has attracted much attention, and keywords such as “high price drugs” frequently appear in the mass media. Each sword refers to high drug prices.

The NDRC lowered the price of drugs by 30 times. The issue of raising the price of drugs still leaves the drug users, drug sellers, and drug users unable to calm down. At the symposium on the "Indigenous Innovation & Drug Price Policy" held recently, this issue once again sparked heated discussions.

False low is more frightening than false high

One person in the industry proposed that the main channel for the consumption of Chinese medicine is hospitals, and the higher part of the hospital's consumption is in tertiary hospitals and above, which is also the main battlefield of high-priced drug consumption. The community health service agencies and township health centers mainly use the national essential drug list categories.

“The real high prices are imported drugs and joint venture drugs. Due to the fierce competition, many domestic domestic generic drugs have already formed upside-down prices,” the industry analyst said. Of course, this person does not deny that there is a phenomenon of high prices in some domestic drugs, but most of the varieties are actually very low in price.

“The price is low and the price is more frightening than the price is high.” Analysis of the industry, the high price is the problem of money, the low price is the problem of survival. "Now, the ex-factory price of a bottle of saline infusion is 8 cents. Like a bottle of pure water, would you dare to use such a drug?"

“We compared the domestic and foreign price indices of 29 essential drugs. Through the comparison of these 29 drugs, we found that the prices of Austrian products are three times higher than those of similar products in China, the United States is 23 times that of China, and Japan is six times that of China. The prices of essential medicines in our country are quite similar to those in Nepal." Ren Jinsheng, chairman of Jiangsu Xiansheng Pharmaceuticals, said at the meeting: "So, I think that the exaggeration of drug prices is now being exaggerated and the overall development of the industry is still quite unfavorable."

According to Yan Xijun, chairman of the Tianjin Tasly Group, it is not that cheap is the basic medicine, and basic medicine should be formulated according to the disease spectrum of the Chinese people. The selection of drugs is first of all to cover the disease spectrum of the Chinese population, and the second is to ensure quality while the price is more favorable as possible.

Wu Danyong, deputy general manager of Tianjin Tasly Pharmaceutical Marketing Group Co., Ltd., believes that prices are now high and low prices coexist. According to their statistics, there are currently more than 50 varieties of basic medicines that are below cost. "From the price point of view, it has been illegal." Wu Danyong said.

Lin Jianning, director of the Southern Food Economic Research Institute of the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), analyzed that the current drug price issue is mainly structurally irrational.

Tangled drug bidding

There is a very general view that people are expensive because of high drug prices. The reason why drug prices are high is because of excessive circulation.

China has implemented the procurement of drugs for tendering for more than 10 years. The original intention of this system is to compete by market competition and purchase quality and cheap drugs. In recent years, explorations and adjustments have been continuously made to address the problems that have arisen. At present, China is implementing a centralized procurement system for pharmaceuticals that is government-led and provincial-based. To sell drugs to hospitals, pharmaceutical companies need to first submit bids in the province in which the hospital is located. After winning the bid, they are eligible to enter the province.

As more than a dozen or even more companies compete for a product, price becomes the first competitive advantage. “Liu Wei Di Huang Wan has more than 100 companies producing more than 300 approval numbers. There are still companies reporting.” The participants lamented.

However, low-cost bids do not necessarily mean that they can enter the hospital. In many places, it is often necessary to negotiate with the hospital for a second time, returning a certain point to the hospital on the basis of the winning bid price.

"If the real price is very low, the doctor will not use it. The hospital may stop your medicine." Under the current mechanism, the hospital is more willing to use the higher-priced variety, and the patient's consumer psychology also tends to be expensive. Equivalent to the curative effect.

Due to the fierce competition among the same species and the existence of too many substitutable varieties at the same time, as for the domestic pharmaceutical companies, the price drop is the same as the drop.

Xiao Wei, chairman of Jiangsu Kangyuan Pharmaceuticals, reluctantly stated: “There is no way for the whole pharmaceutical company, large or medium-sized or small, to have this strange phenomenon.”

"The average profit of the Chinese pharmaceutical industry has been hovering around 10% for several years."

"The average gross profit of pharmaceutical business is less than 3%, and the net profit of some pharmaceutical businesses is less than 1%."

The hospital is also aggrieved: According to a comparative analysis of project costing results of eight general hospitals in Beijing including Chaoyang Hospital and Friendship Hospital in Beijing last year, profitable projects accounted for 43% of the more than 2,000 medical projects, and loss projects accounted for 57. %, more than 50% of medical projects have different levels of losses. At present, the government's annual compensation for hospitals only accounts for less than 10% of the total operating costs of the hospital, and most of the hospital operating expenses are earned on their own.

Call for reasonable pricing mechanism

"At present, this 10% profit is not enough to support the entire pharmaceutical industry to enhance the ability of independent innovation." Lin Jianning said.

As we all know, the characteristics of the pharmaceutical industry are high input, high risk, high returns, and only adequate investment returns can support high-level reproduction.

"We now have gradually made some domestic innovative drugs. For these innovative drugs, SFDA now gives a birth certificate, but we also need the support of relevant policies, such as pricing, to ensure the sustainable development of the industry." Yan Xijun called for.

Yue Wei Pharmaceutical Group Chairman Yu Wei Shi also agrees with this view: “Even if a generic drug is not available in five years, the current pricing policy makes the company invest, but no return.”

At present, the state has formulated a series of policies, such as the "major new drug creation system" special project, etc., to encourage the development of innovative drugs. However, for enterprises, there are still some flaws.

Liu Wei Di Huang Wan is a routine medical insurance drug in China, but currently there is not a complete system for the control of Chinese medical quality standards. The actual batch and batch of the same name Liu Wei Di Huang Wan is not the same, and manufacturers and manufacturers are not the same.

“We have found that the re-study of drugs after their listing is even more important than our investment in the development of new products.” Zhao Chao, president of Buchang Pharmaceutical, said that there is also a policy gap here: “The progress of an industry, a product Therefore, it can become a big product. The reason why a company can become a big company is that it has a continuous technology investment process."

Lin Jianning suggested that regarding the issue of drug prices, it is hoped that the media is good and the government is good. Don't do it across the board. It should be carefully investigated and treated differently. For self-innovative drugs, there must be support for price breakthroughs in products that have technological breakthroughs, so as to guide everyone to be motivated to do independent innovation.

Participants formed a consensus: In the formulation of drug prices, differentiated management of innovative drugs and generic drugs should be implemented to encourage innovation. (Author: Li Yao)