Continuous expansion is the trend of foreign companies "bow their heads" and deepen the basic medicine

Source: pharmaceutical economic daily July 30, 2014 "foreign enterprises enter into the base drug market in a high-profile manner If local enterprises want to continue their previous comparative advantages, they must truly realize import substitution with excellent quality." recently, Merck announced in Shanghai that the group's newly built pharmaceutical factory with an investment of 650 million yuan, Merck group's second largest in the world, will break ground in Nantong in August The factory is expected to start construction in 2016 It was completed in and officially put into production in 2017 for mass production and packaging of products for the treatment of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and thyroid dysfunction, including gehuazhi (metformin hydrochloride tablets), Kangxin (bisoprolol fumarate tablets) and youjiale (levothyroxine sodium tablets) These varieties have been included in the national essential drug list, which makes Merck the first and only multinational enterprise to invest in the production of essential drug list drugs in China on a large scale "As long as there is market demand, multinational pharmaceutical companies will naturally seize the opportunity." Huang Donglin, chief consultant of Frost & Sullivan China Medical Department in the United States, said in an interview with our reporter that the cooperation mode of Haizheng Pfizer and Xiansheng MSD has reflected the attention of foreign enterprises to the grass-roots market Starting from basic drugs to occupy the low-end market is conducive to the better localization of foreign enterprises Merck may also carry out market promotion in the form of cooperation in the future There's no reason to give up Merck has grown rapidly in emerging markets in recent years In 2013, Merck's turnover in emerging markets, including China, increased by 9% to about 3.8 billion euros, accounting for 36% of the group's total sales, said keluwi, chairman of Merck's executive board "Nantong Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd has applied international top technology in plant design, production equipment, product production process, etc., which is in line with the company's long-term development vision in China." 'we don't put too much emphasis on individual products, but on products as a combination,' said Angela Agbo, general manager of Merck's xuelanuo China Nantong plant will set aside a certain workshop for the production of anti-tumor drugs, biological drugs and other products while producing basic drugs The industry insiders pointed out that Merck's increased investment in the production of base drugs is precisely focused on China's growing base drug market At the beginning of multinational enterprises entering China, they occupied the high-end market of first and second tier cities with patent drugs and original research drugs However, these markets are becoming saturated With the promotion of new medical reform policies and multinational enterprises seeking new growth points, the grass-roots market has become a new focus On the one hand, since the implementation of the national basic drug system, basic drugs have become an unavoidable market for pharmaceutical enterprises at home and abroad Geng Hongwu, general marketing consultant of JIUZHOUTONG Pharmaceutical Group, said that the base drug market is growing, and continuous expansion is a trend, and foreign enterprises have no reason to give up On the other hand, some of the products of foreign enterprises in the recently published low-cost drug catalog are in line with the low-cost drug policy, and it is inevitable that these products will enter the grassroots market On the premise that the high-end market is saturated, only when the foreign enterprises sink to the middle and low-end market can they ensure their sustained growth and long-term development in China, and it is also conducive to better localization " In recent years, there are not a few foreign companies coveting the domestic grassroots market The case of the final dismal dissolution of the self built grassroots medical marketing team of foreign enterprises also proves many challenges faced by foreign enterprises in penetrating the grassroots market, such as the decline of bid price, the change of marketing mode, etc "Price is the biggest challenge." Huang Donglin believes that foreign enterprises must learn to be careful when they are used to the grass-roots level with high gross profit and high turnover The sales volume of MSD's Shujiang has increased significantly after the sharp price reduction in previous years, but whether the final profit can be maintained, the company did not disclose relevant data In June this year, bonofi of Sanofi was forced to withdraw from the local basic drug bidding due to the "bargain" of 47% in Shaanxi Province In the view of the industry, Sanofi will not break the national price system of the product due to the bidding of Shaanxi Province without deciding to reduce the price of bonofi nationwide When it comes to the marketing model, some analysts also pointed out in the interview that in the county-level pharmaceutical market, due to the factors of region and population, the small input-output ratio between market input and drug sales is a problem that must be faced Enterprises must continue to invest in the early development, of course, including the construction of grass-roots teams Haizheng Pfizer and Xiansheng MSD are promoted through the mode of cooperation with local enterprises, while Sanofi chooses to build its own team Benfan, general manager of Sanofi's Greater China operations, told reporters at the beginning of the year that the company will continue to explore the county market and plan to cover 1214 counties this year It is reported that the plan mainly promotes the products in the field of vascular diseases and diabetes, including the antidiabetic drug amoril, antihypertensive drug ambove, antithrombotic drug Plavix, etc The reporter noted that Merck announced to cooperate with BMS to promote gehuazhi in China last year In this regard, angobo pointed out that the company is also expanding its product line, hoping to carry out more internal authorization and incorporate more diabetes products into the cooperative promotion Despite many challenges, multinational enterprises still have obvious advantages in product quality, enterprise operation and management "In addition, from the current situation, once the basic drugs of foreign enterprises win the bid, the dosage in clinical use will generally be greater than that of domestic generic drugs." Geng Hongwu pointed out At the same time, the high-profile entry of foreign enterprises into the grassroots market also poses a "threat" to local enterprises But from another point of view, while local enterprises and multinational enterprises are fully competing at the grassroots level, they are also the process of jointly educating doctors and patients, cultivating the market, and expanding the basic drug market If local enterprises want to continue their previous comparative advantages in the grassroots market, they must improve the product quality to truly realize import substitution with excellent quality (Li Jia)