Another batch of drugs is starting to become cheaper.

Release date:

2020-12-14

Let’s take a look at the pharmacies. According to industry sources circulating the centralized procurement documents—specifically, the "Notice on Submitting Procurement Data Related to the Scope of Drugs for the Fourth Batch of Nationally Organized Centralized Drug Purchasing"—this time, a total of 44 retail drug varieties from pharmacies are participating in the centralized procurement, including common medications such as omeprazole, ibuprofen, and aminophylline.

Centralized procurement = lower drug prices! This is the equation commonly used by industry insiders.

Centralized procurement has two major characteristics.

1. Major Price Drop

Once the results of the fourth round of centralized procurement are implemented, these products will all see price reductions.

So, how much can these medications actually reduce costs? According to past centralized procurement results, patients could potentially cut their treatment expenses by nearly 6,000 yuan within just 10 days.

Taking the third round of centralized procurement as an example, the price of linezolid tablets, used to treat acquired pneumonia, dropped from 3,195.2 yuan per box to 312.5 yuan per box. For patients treated with this medication over a standard 10-day course, the cost has decreased from the original 6,390.4 yuan to 625 yuan, resulting in savings of 5,765.4 yuan per patient.

It can be said that centralized procurement is a major boon.

2. Offer a small markup

As of now, multiple regions including Hunan, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu have successively introduced regulations capping retail prices at 15% above the centralized procurement price. This means pharmacies purchasing medications at the centralized procurement rate can add no more than a 15% markup when selling them to consumers. Even in areas where such explicit regulations haven’t yet been officially implemented, many have already reached a similar consensus. However, whether these drugs can be covered by medical insurance still depends on the specific rules set by each region.

While centralized procurement brings blessings to the public, it also poses challenges for pharmacy operations.

Transformation and the introduction of light marketing products are indispensable core strengths.

Initiate new models of industry-university collaboration and explore innovative pathways for industry-academia-research integration.

He Shanghan, Secretary of the Nanning Economic and Technological Development Zone Management Committee, and his delegation visited Baihui Pharmaceutical to inspect safety production efforts.