The febrile reducing drugs that were once trending are priced at less than 5 cents per tablet, and the selected drugs for drug procurement in 15 provinces will be publicly announced
On August 30th, the National Drug Centralized Procurement Office of the Shanghai Alliance Office issued a public notice on the selection of drugs for centralized procurement in the 15 provinces and regions, with 49 drug varieties planned to be selected.
According to relevant requirements, Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, Jiangxi, Shandong, Hubei, Hunan, Chongqing, Sichuan, Yunnan, Xizang, and Gansu formed a regional alliance, set up a national centralized drug procurement office to follow the Shanghai Alliance, and carried out centralized drug procurement in 15 provinces. The specific handling work is carried out by the Shanghai Pharmaceutical Centralized Tendering and Procurement Affairs Management Office.
According to the previously released centralized procurement documents, the procurement cycle for each variety in various regions will be from the date of execution of the selection results to December 31, 2025. The procurement agreement is signed once a year during the procurement cycle. When renewing the purchase agreement, the agreed purchase quantity shall not be less than the agreed purchase quantity of the selected drug in each region last year. If the agreed procurement quantity for the current year is completed ahead of schedule during the procurement cycle, the excess selected enterprises should still supply at the selected price until the procurement cycle expires.
Among the 49 varieties of drugs to be selected for this public announcement, ambroxol hydrochloride tablets, acetaminophen tablets, glimepiride tablets, clindamycin hydrochloride capsules, indapamide tablets, etc. all have proposed selection prices below 2 yuan, and multiple drugs have single tablet prices below 0.10 yuan.
Among them, acetaminophen tablet, an antipyretic and analgesic drug that was hard to find at the peak of COVID-19 infection at the end of last year, was selected from three manufacturers. Among them, the proposed winning price for Chengdu Tongde Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. is 1.45 yuan, with a specification of 0.5g * 10 tablets/plate * 3 tablets/box, and an average price of less than 0.05 yuan per tablet. The supply specifications of Huazhong Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and Sichuan Tongyuan Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd. are both 0.5g * 100 tablets/bottle. The former is priced at 6 yuan, while the latter is priced at 5.59 yuan, with an average price per tablet not exceeding 0.06 yuan.
The price of acetaminophen tablets was highly anticipated during the outbreak of the epidemic at the end of last year. On December 15, 2022, in a case of price violations related to epidemic prevention and control reported by the market supervision in Xuzhou, a clinic adjusted its usual selling price from 2 yuan 20 tablets to 50 yuan 20 tablets, and was punished for suspected price violations. At the same time, when it was difficult to find a single drug, the 20 tablets of acetaminophen produced by Northeast Pharmaceutical were sold for only 2 yuan and once made it to the hot search.
In addition, the hypertension drug indapamide tablets planned to be selected by China National Pharmaceutical Group Industry Co., Ltd. have the lowest single bottle price. The lowest planned price is 1.39 yuan, with a specification of 2.5mg * 20 tablets/plate * 1 tablet/box, and a single tablet price of less than 0.07 yuan. The recommended price for the 24 tablets of Levocetirizine Hydrochloride 5mg from Hunan Jiudian Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. is 2.13 yuan, with a single tablet price of less than 0.09 yuan.
The highest single package price is entratabine tenofovir tablets for the treatment of HIV-1 infection. The proposed winning price of 30 tablets/bottle × 1 bottle/box is 666 yuan. The manufacturer is Chia Tai Tianqing Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd. The proposed winning areas are Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang and Chongqing. The price of Enqutabine Tenofovir tablets with the same specifications and packaging quantity is 468 yuan. The manufacturer is Anhui Beck Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd., and the selected regions are Anhui, Gansu, Hunan, Shanghai, and Tianjin. Similar drugs with the same specifications but only one-third of the packaging quantity are produced by Hisilicon Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. The proposed winning price is 178.35, and the proposed winning regions are Beijing, Fujian, Hubei, Jiangxi, and Sichuan.
The public announcement period for drug procurement in the fifteen provinces is from August 30, 2023 to September 1, 2023. After the public announcement period ends, the results of the selection will be officially announced.