Health & Beauty

On the evening of August 31, eight departments including the National Medical Insurance Bureau and the National Health Commission jointly issued the "Deepening Medical Service Price Reform Pilot Program." Entering September, many places have successively announced the implementation schedule of the fifth batch of nationally organized drug centralized procurement. At the same time, with the continuous deepening of the reform of the pharmaceutical industry, the centralized procurement policy has gradually expanded from the field of chemical medicine oral preparations to the fields of injections, insulin, and high-value consumables.

The intensive release and implementation of policies such as medical service prices and centralized procurement has accelerated the reshuffle of the pharmaceutical industry and reshaped the development pattern of the industry. At the same time, these changes are also reflected in the market value and financial indicators of listed companies.

Centralized extraction and extruding drug prices are falsely high and moisture

Under centralized procurement, more and more patients benefited. "The antihypertensive drugs I bought from the hospital cost a total of more than 7 yuan, which is really too cheap." Ms. Liu, who had just returned from a hospital in Beijing, told reporters. It is understood that one of the medicines that Ms. Liu bought was rosuvastatin calcium tablets, which was purchased in quantity.

On August 30, the Shandong Provincial Government Information Office held a press conference to introduce the "Fourteenth Five-Year Plan for the Development of Shandong Province's Medical Security Industry". According to Qiu Bingyu, deputy director of the Shandong Provincial Medical Insurance Bureau, four batches of 157 nationally organized drug and coronary stent collection results have been implemented so far. The average price of drugs has been reduced by more than 60%, and the average coronary stent has been reduced from 13,000 yuan to about 700 yuan. .

Correspondingly, the challenges faced by enterprises participating in centralized procurement are increasing. Hengrui Medicine stated in the semi-annual report that the third batch of 6 drugs involved in the centralized procurement started in November 2020, and the sales revenue fell 57% month-on-month during the reporting period. China Resources Sanjiu also stated in its semi-annual report that its operating income in the first half of the year was 7.757 billion yuan, and the impact of policies such as restricted anti-infection business and centralized procurement has declined significantly.

Whether to include centralized procurement has also become an important factor affecting the market value of listed pharmaceutical companies. As of September 2 this year, the market value of 32 A-share listed companies in the pharmaceutical and biological sector has shrunk by more than 10 billion yuan. Among them, the total market value of Hengrui Medicine has shrunk by more than 300 billion yuan.

In an interview with a reporter from the Securities Daily, Zhao Jianan, an analyst in the pharmaceutical industry of ICBC International’s research department, said: “We believe that on the one hand, the gradual implementation of relevant policies has indeed brought short-term financial pressure to some companies, but on the other hand, we We also see that centralized procurement is expected to accelerate the trend of domestic substitution of imports and help domestic enterprises with advantages in technology, cost and product quality to quickly increase market share."

"The original intention of carrying out the reform of centralized and volume procurement was to squeeze out the excessively high drug prices, promote the return of drug prices to a reasonable level, reduce the burden of the masses, and make the drugs affordable for patients." On August 24, the state organized drugs. In response to a reporter's question, the Centralized Procurement Pilot Joint Procurement Office stated that the sales expenses of mainstream pharmaceutical companies have accounted for nearly 40% of sales revenue for a long time, which is significantly higher than that of other consumer goods industries.

From the perspective of changes in sales expenses, data show that in the first half of this year, the sales expenses of 108 listed companies in the pharmaceutical and biological industry experienced varying degrees of decline. Among them, the sales expenses of 12 pharmaceutical companies decreased by more than 100 million yuan.

Industry innovation attributes will be further enhanced

The policy further squeezes unreasonable costs. On the one hand, it is to benefit patients, and on the other hand, it is to allow enterprises to invest more in innovation and achieve high-quality market supply. "While the government promotes the centralized procurement policy, it also vigorously encourages the research and development of innovative drugs and medical devices. The policy has further strengthened the technological attributes of the industry." Li Yifeng, chief of Guangzhou Yuanshi Investment Pharmaceutical, told a reporter from the Securities Daily.

According to reports, in the first half of 2021, 21 Class 1 innovative drugs have been approved for marketing. This number has exceeded the number of innovative drugs approved for the entire year of 2020, setting a new record.

Flush data shows that 294 listed companies in the pharmaceutical and biological industry have achieved year-on-year growth in R&D investment in the first half of the year, of which 83 companies have invested more than 100 million yuan in research and development, and Hengrui Pharmaceuticals, Fosun Pharma, and Mindray Medical have invested more than 1 billion yuan in research and development.

Innovation also allows companies to seize dividends in industry changes. Fosun Pharma achieved a net profit of 2.482 billion yuan in the first half of this year, a year-on-year increase of 44.77%. The company stated that the optimization of the product structure brought about by the launch of innovative products was the main driving factor. The 2021 semi-annual report released by Hengrui Pharmaceuticals shows that the sales revenue of innovative drugs reached 5.207 billion yuan, an increase of 43.80% year-on-year, accounting for 39.15% of overall revenue. The driving force of innovative drugs on performance has further appeared.

"On the one hand, traditional pharmaceutical companies are continuously increasing R&D investment, and continuously enriching their own R&D pipelines through internal R&D and external cooperation. According to our statistics, the R&D expenses of leading pharmaceutical companies have increased by nearly 40% in the past five years; on the other hand, , These leading companies are also paying more and more attention to overseas markets, and strengthen their overseas market layout by establishing their own overseas marketing teams and cooperating with overseas pharmaceutical companies." Zhao Jianan said.