Caixin News on November 1 (Reporter Lu A Feng) This afternoon, the National Drug Centralized Procurement Office (referred to as the "Centralized Procurement Office") released the "Notice on the Submission of Information Related to the Tenth Batch of Centralized Drug Procurement Organized by the State" on the Shanghai Sunshine Pharmaceutical Procurement Network, officially announcing the drug catalog involved in the tenth batch of national procurement.

The notice shows that the tenth batch of national procurement involves a total of 263 specifications, including 62 varieties, which is consistent with the reported volumes in the industry before. This also means that the competition landscape of drugs and enterprises covered by the tenth batch of national procurement is officially revealed.

Caixin News reporters noticed that among the 62 varieties mentioned above, several are billion-level varieties in the public hospital market, such as Dolutegravir Hydrochloride Liposome Injection, Ceftriaxone Lactate Injection, Piperacillin Sodium Injection, Compound α-Ketoprofen Sustained-Release Capsules, Adrenaline Injection, Aspirin Sustained-Release Tablets, all of which had sales in sample hospitals exceeding 2 billion yuan last year.

According to Minet, the total sales of the 62 varieties in 2023 in Chinese public medical institutions terminals (urban public hospitals, county public hospitals, urban community centers, and township health centers) are close to 55 billion yuan.

In terms of therapeutic areas, the 263 specifications cover more than ten major therapeutic categories, with the most involved varieties mainly belonging to the digestive system and metabolic drugs, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular system drugs. Shanghai Pharma (601607.SH), Fosun Pharma (600196.SH), Qilu Pharmaceutical, Kelun Pharmaceutical (002422.SZ), Chengdu Better Pharmaceutical, Yangzi River Pharmaceutical, CSPC Pharma (01093.HK), Shijiazhuang Four Medicines, and other pharmaceutical companies are the "main force".

There is fierce competition for several varieties; for example, there are 31 eligible companies for Sitagliptin Oral Sustained-Release Tablets, 29 for Propofol Injection, and 22 competing companies for Paracetamol Injection.

It is worth mentioning that in the negotiations held a few days ago in the 2024 national tender, Paracetamol Injection was also involved. On the fourth day of the national negotiations on October 30, representatives from Qilu Pharmaceutical, Guangxi South Pharmaceutical, Jiangsu Wuzhong Pharmaceutical Development, Sanyo Pharmaceuticals, Hebei Tiancheng, Yunnan Xianshi, Zhongrun Pharmaceuticals, and other enterprises all appeared. In addition, Shandong Xinhua Pharmaceutical (000756.SZ), China Meheco Group, Humanwell Healthcare (600079.SH), Yangzi River Pharmaceutical, CSPC Pharma, and other large pharmaceutical companies are also qualified to participate in the national procurement of this variety.

"According to the rules of the ninth batch of national centralized procurement, the selection of only 10 companies for remdesivir injection means that 12 companies need to be eliminated, making the competition for selection very fierce," said senior pharmaceutical industry expert Guo Xinfeng to a reporter from Caixin.

This year's national procurement can be described as a gathering of "major varieties", with an unprecedented trend of focusing on key products, which may be closely related to the requirements and goals of the centralized procurement policy.

The notice issued by the National Medical Insurance Administration in May this year on "Strengthening Regional Coordination to Improve the Quality and Expand the Coverage of the 2024 Medical Centralized Procurement" clearly states that the national centralized procurement will focus on drugs that have passed consistency evaluation and high-value medical consumables with excessively high prices and strong public feedback.

In October, the Centralized Procurement Office emphasized reporting discipline in the document notifying medical institutions to report quantities: medical institutions are required to provide explanations for quantities lower than 80% of their historical procurement volume; for institutions that do not report quantities, report but do not procure, or procure but insufficiently, public inquiries will be conducted, with special on-site inspections organized.

"The tenth batch of national centralized procurement is the most competitive and possibly the one with the largest price reduction in history," said Dong Zecheng, Assistant General Manager of General Technology China Medicine Jiangsu to a reporter from Caixin. Due to the occurrence of some irregular quotation practices before, this year's centralized procurement will also have the strictest compliance requirements. In addition, as the time span of the tenth batch of national centralized procurement is long, resulting in a large number of enterprises qualifying, the winning bid prices will be further compressed, market shares will be divided, and gross margin of winning bidders will also be severely squeezed.

Public data shows that from the '4+7' program to the ninth batch of national centralized procurement, except for the sixth batch of insulin special national procurement, all the rest are pharmaceutical procurements, with the number of purchased varieties ranging from 16 to 61, the highest being 62 in the fifth batch of national procurement, 61 selected varieties. This year's national procurement covers 62 varieties, equivalent to the fifth batch of national procurement.

"Based on the annual time intervals for national procurement, the tenth batch of national procurement may conduct on-site quotations around the Spring Festival," Dong Zecheng speculated.