After 4 + 7, the grey rhinoceros of pharmaceutical companies: the rise of Monopoly cost of APIs

The price of aspirin API phenol rose 99 times from 230 yuan / kg to 23000 yuan / kg; the price of Chlorphenamine Maleate (commonly known as "chlorphenamine") in the same period of time soared from 400 yuan / kg to 23300 yuan / kg, which soared 58 times in a month -- a report in August 2018 by Qianjiang Evening News once again set the highest record of API price rise As one of the largest producers of APIs, China has more than 2000 relevant manufacturers, with about 1600 kinds of APIs and an annual output of more than 1 million tons However, in recent years, the prices of some of the raw materials and drugs described above have increased significantly and unreasonably in a short period of time According to Li Qing, deputy director of the price supervision and inspection and Anti Monopoly Bureau of the national development and Reform Commission, China has 1500 kinds of APIs, 50 of which can only be produced by one enterprise with approval qualification, 44 of which can only be produced by two enterprises, 10% of which can only be produced by one digit manufacturer, and the other can be produced by 169 at most Pharmaceutical enterprises The concentration of production resources leads to the planting of monopoly seeds In the face of the "high fever does not subside" of the rising prices of APIs, the state is in the process of rectifying them in the near future According to the information released by the State Administration of market supervision on January 2, Henan Jiushi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd and Hunan Erkang Pharmaceutical Business Co., Ltd and other two chlorphenamine API production enterprises were punished with 12.4314 million yuan according to law due to monopoly behavior "The price increase of API is a common topic The main reason is that the domestic API market lacks sufficient marketization, which leads to continuous vicious competition." Guo yunpei, President of China Pharmaceutical Enterprise Management Association, told time finance In 2018, Guo yunpei went to many places to investigate the rise in the price of APIs After the investigation, he found that many pharmaceutical companies were more worried about the fact that under the background of the current "4 + 7" pilot volume procurement organized by the state, after the national price negotiation, the enterprises reduced the price of pharmaceuticals to the lowest point, but in the face of raw materials and auxiliary materials that may rise in the price, where should the enterprises go? Although the relevant departments of the state are working hard to crack down on the monopoly of API and close the situation of API production, the whole market structure is still difficult to fundamentally change in the short term In the context of current national volume procurement, the prices of various commonly used drugs and low-cost drugs have dropped to the lowest level in history, and many enterprises are worried about the rise of API prices Guo yunpei encountered an example in the process of investigation In December 2018, amlodipine besylate tablets of Zhejiang Jingxin Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd were selected at the price of 0.148 yuan / tablet Considering single source commitment and advance payment, Jingxin pharmaceutical thought that even the above low price was still profitable However, unexpected problems occurred As the price of a kind of raw material for the production of the tablet increased from 1000 yuan / kg to 1700 yuan / kg, the cost of the production of the tablet increased For this reason, Beijing New Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd had to try to reduce the production cost of the drug from the management level first, but at the same time, a deputy general manager of the enterprise also confessed to Guo yunpei, hoping that the whole industry could pay attention to this problem, "this problem is not alone, many enterprises will specifically increase the price of raw materials for the winning varieties after winning the bid." These problems may be breaking out On January 3, the website of Shanghai Pharmaceutical office issued a notice that nimesulide oral regular release dosage form was the second batch of centralized bidding procurement varieties in Shanghai medical institutions, and nimesulide dispersible tablets (100mg × 20 tablets / box) produced by Kangzhi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd were supplied at the bid winning price of volume procurement voluntarily Now, due to the rising cost, the enterprise proposes that it is unable to continue to supply at the original price According to the research decision, the drug procurement qualification will be cancelled from January 7, 2019 Since the end of 2014, Shanghai has carried out three phases of bidding procurement with volume Nimesulide oral regular release dosage form is the second batch of procurement varieties According to the final bid winning results published on October 10, 2016, Hubei Shubang Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd is the only bid winning enterprise of nimesulide dispersible tablets The bid winning price of the above-mentioned tablets is 17.51 yuan / box Then, considering that Kangzhi pharmaceutical's products were shortlisted for quality in the second batch of volume bidding in Shanghai, although it failed to win the final bid, the nimesulide dispersible tablets of Kangzhi pharmaceutical voluntarily sold at a reduced price, so in the second batch of volume procurement in Shanghai, Kangzhi pharmaceutical has the sales qualification However, more than two years later, Kangzhi pharmaceutical industry took the initiative to propose that the rising cost could not be supplied at the original price, which is intriguing now As for the specific reference of the cost increase mentioned in the notice, on January 4, time finance and economics repeatedly called the Securities Department of Kangzhi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd and the Secretary Office of the board of directors and other departments, and the relevant persons did not clearly respond to this However, according to e company, some people in the pharmaceutical industry said that the most critical factor determining the cost of drugs is the supply and price of raw materials If the bid winning enterprise does not produce raw materials by itself, the upstream price rise or supply failure will lead to performance problems "The small varieties are good If they are big varieties in the national market, other enterprises that have not won the bid may not have large production plans, the raw material sites are not prepared, and the market supply is difficult to be guaranteed in the short term." These people point out.