How can we squeeze the price of drugs by an average price reduction of 53% after purchasing with quantity？
Reading tips
A few days ago, the second batch of centralized drug procurement organized by the state successively landed in various places. The average price reduction of drugs reached 53%, with the highest drop reaching 93%, and patients benefited significantly. How much drug price water can be squeezed out by the upcoming third batch of quantity procurement, and all walks of life are full of expectations.
Ms. Zhang from Shenyang, Liaoning Province is a diabetic who has been taking acarbose tablets for a long time. Recently, when she prescribed medicine in the hospital, she found that this imported original drug dropped from 61.29 yuan per box to 5.42 yuan. According to the consumption of 3 boxes per month, "the cost of medicine in the past month is enough for one year now."
The reduction of drug prices benefited from the landing of the second batch of centralized drug procurement organized by the state in various places. In this centralized procurement, 32 varieties were successfully purchased, with an average price reduction of 53% and the highest drop of 93%.
Recently, it has been reported that the third batch of purchasing with quantity is about to start, and how much more water can be squeezed by drug prices, which is full of expectations.
Drugs that I couldn’t afford are now affordable.
Centralized drug purchase is like "group purchase", which means purchasing with quantity and exchanging price with quantity, and negotiating with drug manufacturers to achieve the purpose of reducing drug prices and reducing the burden of patients’ drug costs.
From the end of 2018, the first batch of 11 cities piloted the purchase of 25 varieties, and by September 2019, the scope of the pilot was expanded to the whole country, and then by the beginning of 2020, the second batch of 32 kinds of drugs were purchased with quantity. China’s procurement with quantity continued to expand and the frequency became more and more dense.
"The most direct effect is to reduce the burden on patients." According to the relevant person in charge of the joint procurement, among the selected drugs, chronic diseases and major diseases such as hypertension, viral hepatitis and malignant tumor have a heavy burden of long-term medication. By purchasing drugs with quantity, the price of drugs has been significantly reduced, and the drugs that were originally unaffordable are now affordable, which is the most direct benefit for the people.
The reporter noted that compared with the first batch of pilot centralized drugs, the second batch of drugs selected recently has a wider range of treatment fields, including many family-standing drugs and drugs for chronic diseases, as well as non-medical insurance varieties such as amrital tablets and tadalafil tablets. In the eyes of the industry, this means that the trend of national joint mining has shifted from medical insurance control to patient needs.
Previously, patients were more willing to go to the hospital to buy drugs because the price of selected drugs in the hospital was greatly reduced, which reduced the passenger flow and sales of pharmacies. But for patients, it saves time and effort to buy drugs in pharmacies, and it is not only personal trouble but also takes up certain medical resources to prescribe drugs in hospitals.
In this regard, the second batch of procurement with quantity will no longer select some areas to carry out pilot projects. Private hospitals and retail pharmacies designated by medical insurance can voluntarily participate in provincial procurement alliances, submit procurement requirements and implement procurement with quantity. At present, Shandong, Zhejiang, Shanghai and other places have issued documents to collect medical insurance drugs from pharmacies and bring them into the procurement channels of the medical insurance system.
Squeeze out the price moisture in the circulation of drugs
In the second batch of centralized procurement, the average price reduction of 32 drugs reached 53%, with the highest drop reaching 93%. Why can the price of drugs drop so much?
"A considerable number of drug prices have been artificially high for a long time. The price level of some generic drugs is more than twice the international price, and the cost of circulation links accounts for the main part of the price. This is the main space for centralized procurement and price reduction." The relevant person in charge of joint procurement revealed.
Drug prices have squeezed out so much water at once, and some people worry that the pace is too big and the market may not buy it. However, judging from the implementation of procurement in pilot cities, the implementation of quantity procurement exceeded expectations.
At Chaoyang Hospital in Beijing, Liu Lihong, director of pharmacy department, told reporters: "It took us about eight or nine months to complete the purchase volume for one year." By the end of December last year, the average procurement progress of 25 selected drugs in the pilot areas was 183%, and the results of expanded procurement began in December last year, and patients all over the country used high-quality and cheap selected drugs.
"I hope to increase policy propaganda." Liu Lihong believes that it is necessary to let more patients know the benefits of the quantity purchase policy, and the decline in drug prices and the replacement of generic drugs will not affect the quality and efficacy of drugs, so that more patients will benefit.
Next, the quantity procurement will be normalized. "Not only countries, but also local governments. Not only in the pharmaceutical field, but also in the field of high-value consumables and low-value consumables. " According to Ding Yilei, deputy director of the Department of Medicine Price and Bidding and Purchasing of the National Medical Insurance Bureau, purchasing with quantity will gradually become the dominant mode of centralized purchasing of medicines in the future.
Delineate the system "red line" for pharmaceutical companies
The industry has reached a consensus that centralized procurement based on the consistent evaluation of quality and efficacy will promote enterprises to return to cost and quality competition. Some experts said that purchasing with quantity will greatly reduce the public relations behavior of enterprises, and the competition between enterprises will turn into open and transparent product quality and cost competition, and the gray operation under the water will turn into fair competition under the sun, which will help the pharmaceutical industry to change from marketing-driven to innovation-driven
"Centralized procurement with quantity directly hits the soft underbelly of false high drug prices, achieving multiple effects such as reducing drug prices, improving drug quality and promoting industrial upgrading." Hu Jinglin, director of the National Medical Insurance Bureau, said that, more importantly, centralized procurement with quantity has created conditions for standardizing medical behavior and promoting the reform of public medical institutions while reducing burdens and increasing efficiency for medical insurance.
Practice has proved that the "small incision" of centralized procurement with quantity can promote the "great reform" of the medical and health system. Hu Jinglin pointed out that the reform of the medical and health system has entered the deep water area, and it is necessary to establish a recruitment policy system of "purchasing with quantity as the principle and purchasing without quantity as the exception" and continue to promote centralized purchasing with quantity.
At present, the range of drugs purchased with quantity is relatively limited, and the inflated drug prices and commercial bribery still exist. However, the supervision has begun to plan a "red line" for drugs through the procurement platform with quantity.
Not long ago, the National Medical Insurance Bureau solicited opinions on the establishment of a credit evaluation system for drug prices and recruitment, and proposed that pharmaceutical enterprises should promise not to break their promises when they participate in centralized drug procurement and online platform. In the event of unfair competition such as pharmaceutical commercial bribery and manipulation of market prices, it will be included in the list of untrustworthy catalogues, and pharmaceutical enterprises will be suspended from drug online and bidding.
This has caused a lot of concern in the pharmaceutical industry. Because of its severe punishment, many people in the industry believe that the "red line" of this system is conducive to curbing the "gold" sales of drugs. (Reporter Dan-qing Li)