Why is it difficult for Chinese-made people to break through the foreign companies?

Business News Agency September 28 News Foreign pharmaceutical companies, with their strong economic strength and vast marketing network throughout the country, constitute an invisible sales network that controls all parts of the country, plus a chain of interests with hospitals and local pharmaceutical circulation departments. Successfully blocked Chinese local company products

In China's market, there are often cases where certain products have become domestically produced and their quality can meet foreign standards. However, domestically produced drugs are not products that can be produced by foreign (or joint venture) companies. The example that comes in handy is that fat dairy products produced by domestic joint venture pharmaceutical companies have long accounted for 95% of the domestic similar product market. Although China's domestic companies developed domestically produced fat emulsion products 10 years ago, and the selling price is It is much cheaper than the joint venture's products, but domestic fat emulsions cannot open up the situation.

Genetic recombinant human insulin is also an example. As early as ten years ago, the recombined genetic human insulin that was established by Dr. Gan Zhongru, Dr. Liu Mei, had already set up factories in Beijing and Jilin Tonghua, respectively, and the annual output had reached two tons four to five years ago. However, until today, there are still very few human insulin products sold by Tonghua Dongbao or Beijing Ganli Pharmaceutical in the hospitals or pharmacies across the country.

Export re-imports

Where does human insulin with independent intellectual property rights produced by Chinese pharmaceutical companies go? Why does the domestic market mostly produce recombinant human insulin products from foreign companies? After reviewing related data, the author found that foreign companies, with their strong economic strength and vast marketing network throughout China, formed an invisible sales network that controlled all parts of the country, plus the hospital and local pharmaceutical circulation departments. The interest chain has succeeded in keeping the recombinant human insulin produced by Chinese companies outside the market. In the end, domestically produced recombinant human insulin can only take the old road that most domestic pharmaceutical companies are still taking—to export insulin raw material medicines abroad, and then to process them into foreign preparations and sell them in domestic markets.

In addition, although Jilin Tonghua Dongbao Co., Ltd. has already developed a new product Ganshu Lin with its own brand of insulin injection pens as early as several years ago, the retail price of each of the products is only 59.9 yuan, and the new Dongbao automatic insulin pen Each only sells 196 yuan. In contrast, the price of a similar product produced by a foreign company is as high as 288-360 yuan.

The strange thing is that the author basically does not see domestically produced low-priced insulin pens sold in hospitals or pharmacies all over East China. The author speculates that the reason may be that profit promoters manipulate the distribution of drugs in secret. Because foreign products can be sold at high prices, but also to give more benefits, in contrast to domestic insulin injection pen low selling prices, drug dealers (or hospital pharmacy) discount is also less, so the hospital pharmacy or local pharmacies are more willing to enter the foreign Goods (because this makes more profit). This is the reason why cheap domestic drugs are difficult to find in the domestic market.

Low penetration under high prices

What is even more puzzling is that the price of foreign-made insulin pens in the Chinese market is much higher than those in neighboring Asian countries, and even more expensive than those in Europe and the United States. According to the survey, the retail price of insulin pens produced by foreign companies in the Chinese market is generally between 288 and 300 yuan, which is much higher than that of domestic similar products. We compare the retail prices of insulin pens (3.0ml or 300 units per unit) in the same size in foreign markets. The retail price of insulin pens in the US market is 15 to 17 US dollars per unit (if consumers purchase 5 at a time). There are also discounts for the above; the price of insulin pens in EU countries is around 12 euros each. It can be seen that the retail price of each 3.0 ml insulin pen in the European and American countries is roughly equivalent to RMB 106 to 120 yuan. It is much lower than the price of insulin injection pens of the same specifications that foreign merchants sell on the Chinese market.

Let's take a look at the retail price of insulin pens for our Asian neighbors. According to well-documented reports, the price of insulin pens on the Indian market is generally equivalent to 80 to 90 yuan per RMB. The situation in Pakistan is similar to that in India. However, in Southeast Asia such as Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand, where the economy is relatively developed, the price of the 3.0-ml insulin injection pen is only RMB 120-150. The average price of the insulin injection pen in Egypt is 60-80 Egyptian pounds (equivalent to equivalent). Each RMB 85-120 (RMB), it is understood that the price of insulin pens in other countries and regions is roughly similar to the price mentioned above. It seems that China has become one of the most expensive countries in the world for insulin pens. And China’s per capita national income is reported to have ranked more than 100 in the world.

Since insulin pens in the domestic market are basically controlled by foreign products, domestic cheap insulin pens are difficult to enter the domestic market. Therefore, most diabetics use expensive insulin pens. The consequence is that the use of insulin pens in diabetics in China is low in the world (less than 3%). In contrast, the use of insulin pens in diabetics in developed countries such as the Nordic countries and Western European countries has a penetration rate of 50%, and the United States is 30% (Note: American diabetics are more willing to use insulin pump delivery devices), even if per capita national income In India, which is not high in the world, the penetration rate of insulin pens among diabetics is also 8% to 10%. The penetration rate of insulin pens in Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, or Thailand is also above 15%, much higher than that in China. .

Solve the problem of high prices

Behind the high prices is the fact that many diabetics in China face the high price of insulin pens in the market. In spite of this, there are currently 50 million people with diabetes in China. Some patients must purchase insulin pens at their own expense due to their ability to pay and their illnesses. Therefore, foreign investors are not worried about the sales of their products in the Chinese market.

According to latest domestic media reports, foreigners who entered the Chinese insulin market earlier, such as Novo Nordisk, and later foreign companies such as Eli Lilly and Sanofi-Aventis, which have entered the Chinese market, have plans to increase insulin production in China. Local insulin pen manufacturers are still struggling under heavy oppression from foreign investors. Most of their insulin bulk drug production capacity is let down, and some insulin APIs can only be exported to overseas markets.

It is said that such examples include many other drugs or medical device products. Expensive imported products sell faster in the country, while cheap domestic goods do not sell. For example, in the United States, a vascular stent product priced at US$400 is generally sold at 10,000 to 20,000 yuan in domestic hospitals; orthopaedic materials are also a profitable product. A fixed fracture plate for patients with imported fractures (its import cost is only 250-300 US dollars) is generally priced at more than 10,000 yuan in domestic hospitals. I remember that a bone fracture fixation (using plywood) in a domestic hospital 30 to 40 years ago usually costs only tens of RMB. Now if the use of imported steel plate in the same surgery, the general cost should be 10,000 to 20,000 yuan.

As a result of the long-term monopolization of new products of recombinant human insulin injection pens for more than 20 years, a large amount of profits have been absorbed by foreign investors. Of course, the domestic medical department or the pharmaceutical retail sector can also get a share from it. The first infringement of interests is the majority of people with diabetes (and most of them belong to the low- and middle-income group) and domestic manufacturers of recombinant human insulin.

Recently, it has been learned that there are domestic manufacturers who want to start production of third-generation recombinant human insulin products (Note: insulin analogues). I do not know whether these ambitious domestic companies have conducted investigations on the current status of domestic insulin injection market monopolized by foreign investors.

The author believes that the functional departments of the Chinese government responsible for pricing should take into account the desire of the majority of people with diabetes to purchase low-cost insulin pens and use them in developing countries such as India, Pakistan, and Egypt to quickly formulate popular medical device products such as insulin pens. The maximum price, in order to make the cheap and domestic insulin pen stand out in the market, and make the domestic recombinant human insulin industry thrive.