Drug suppliers monopoly drug prices rose

Recently, the issue of digoxin's rise in prices has been buzzing. From the micro-friends, we learned about the monopoly story behind the rise in drug prices. The micro-friend told us how agents increase prices through monopoly, and how monopoly is formed. of. The following is a summary of the manuscript based on this friend.

The original digoxin tablets had already stopped production due to the low price of many manufacturers, but since the formulation was included in the list of low-priced drugs, smart merchants have discovered business opportunities.

Monopoly price increase planning path

First of all, we need to know that the raw material of digoxin has only one imported supply, which provides businesses with a monopoly opportunity.

Secondly, after the import registration of APIs, foreigners are generally irrespective of them and are directly handed over to domestic agents. If there is less production of raw materials, agents can engage in monopolies.

The general agent first seized the throat of the manufacturer of the preparation by monopolizing the raw material management and price increase, which caused them all to lose their driving force for production and management (which also includes Xinyi) because the amount of money the pharmaceutical company can sell is determined through tenders. So once the cost is too high, the manufacturer will not produce. Everyone knows that the tender price for domestic digoxin tablets has declined in recent years. The highest bid price is only 8.4 yuan.

In the end, only one formulation manufacturer, Sanofi, will remain. This matter has already succeeded half, after the raw material has risen by 10 times, then of course it is the price increase of the formulation. Since there is no rival, it is okay for the agent to mention it.

Finally, the use of low-cost drug policy rules to smoothly increase the price of the preparation 10 times. Of course, the domestic sales of Gaoxin Tablets are also the only one. This is the overall planning and marketing path for Digoxin tablets. In fact, because of the fact that raw materials have risen nearly 10 times, Xinyi has already stopped production. Now it is also selling the previous inventory. This investigation by the National Development and Reform Commission is an outsider lying on the gun.

Concerned about price monopoly, but also to eliminate the soil behind price monopoly

I do not think that there is anything wrong with the increase in the price of preparations. After all, people are also making reasonable use of low-priced drugs to raise prices, and they have not violated the law's bottom line. As for whether it is too good to see it.

There are two points I have to whine,

A: The state has so severe control over the price of drugs, why not control the price of raw materials? We know that raw materials are all independently set by enterprises, and raw material manufacturers are arbitrarily increasing their prices almost every year without being regulated by the state. Formulation manufacturers are faced with increasing prices of upstream raw materials, and they have to face the competition of similar species prices. Next, we must face the pressure from various tenders for secondary bargaining on pharmaceutical preparations. These are the reasons for the difficulty of preparation companies.

Why are there many classic and cheap old medicines in the country that have disappeared? These are all reasons. And we often overlook the influence of raw materials upstream.

I think that neither the country nor the price of raw material preparation should be controlled by the market, or they must all be controlled. Otherwise, only one party will be supervised and there will be more drugs in the future. More pharmaceutical companies will be eliminated unreasonably. The rest may be only some large group companies that have integrated raw material preparations.

Two: What I want to Tucao is precisely the policy opportunity for this kind of monopoly and the monopoly itself. The monopoly of digoxin tablets starts from monopoly of raw materials. There are some agents who are playing this game, especially low-priced drugs. There are many successful cases. Another low-cost drug, medroxyprogesterone acetate tablets, is an agent that monopolizes the operation of two or three formulations by monopolizing the raw materials of Zhejiang Xianyu and Yueyang Huanyu, so that all the preparations of the product are fully utilized. The price has also increased from the original five or six yuan to the current twenty or thirty yuan. It is all right for the agents to sell in the country.

Why monopoly can form, especially why this monopoly case is mainly concentrated on low-priced drugs? The most important issue is the current bidding policy. After the tendering department repeatedly presses down the price of low-priced drugs, the price of low-priced drugs drops again and again, and all the manufacturers have lost their driving force. In the end, only one or two pharmaceutical companies are needed to support the monopoly. Prepared.

The country is also fighting against monopolistic behavior. It is really necessary to ask the government departments to look up these improper competition actions in the pharmaceutical industry. At the same time, the State is invited to consider carefully and eradicate the policy soil created by the monopoly.

Saibo Lan noted that during the two sessions, the Beijing Pharmaceutical Industry Association also paid attention to this phenomenon. The following is the feedback from the Beijing Pharmaceutical Industry Association on this issue and the policy recommendations. From the reflection of the issues of the Beijing Pharmaceutical Industry Association, the monopoly of raw material drugs caused The current situation of skyrocketing prices is staggering, and the rise in raw materials is not as simple as ten times.

Beijing Pharmaceutical Industry Association provides:

Suggestions on Resolving the Soaring Prices of Monopoly Businesses of Some Traditional Pharmaceutical Raw Material Drugs

The cheaper generic medicines such as sulfamethoxazole, painkillers, and sulfur ointment are standing medicines that can not be prevented from disease prevention and cure by the general public. However, in recent years, the monopoly of raw materials of certain types of generic drugs has become increasingly serious. In particular, some manufacturers have fewer generic pharmaceutical raw materials. Manufacturers do not sell raw pharmaceuticals directly to pharmaceutical preparation companies. Instead, they first sell them to a commercial company, and commercial companies sell their raw materials for a few months before selling them. Out, the price rose exponentially.

For example, from October 2011 to May 2013, the price of thymol, the main raw material of “Xinlong to Lishui”, soared from 275 yuan/kg to 8,808 yuan/kg; from March 2010 to May 2013 The price of sulphur ointment, the main raw material for sublimation of sulfur, soared from 18.5 yuan/kg to 400 yuan/kg. In addition, the price of the raw materials that people commonly use to “pain tablets” has doubled between October 2014 and January 2015.

The direct result of the monopoly of some raw pharmaceutical drugs and the soaring price of raw material medicines is that drug manufacturers cannot continue to produce (because the APIs are priced by the market, but the drug preparations are determined by the government-led bidding procurement price), resulting in some commonly used Drugs continue to be out of stock in hospitals and pharmacies, directly affecting the public's normal medication.

In order to solve the problem of frequent interruption of supply of some generic drugs, it is necessary to effectively curb the monopoly of some generic drug substances.

Suggest:

1. For only two or three companies that produce or even exclusively produce generic pharmaceutical raw materials, it is recommended that food and drug regulatory authorities approve the production of several companies. If some manufacturers are forced to suspend the production of API because they have not yet passed the new GMP certification, it is recommended that such manufacturers be given technical guidance.

2. It is recommended that the National Development and Reform Commission and the State Ministry of Industry and Information Technology strengthen the investigation and control of the price changes of raw material medicines, and, in conjunction with relevant functional departments, give anti-monopoly interventions to the related commercial companies that monopolize the operation of raw material medicines, and promptly curb the serious increase of some varieties of raw material medicines. Price behavior.