Tracking "limit drug": 80% limit price drug disappeared after limit order

The business club reported on Oct. 11 that 108 kinds of medicines were limited, and the public did not like to worry about it. A few yuan of cough medicine cannot be bought, and more than a hundred dollars of anticancer drugs disappear.

Since September 15, the province has limited the maximum retail prices of 108 drugs. Some pharmacy drug prices still exceeded the limit price; some hospitals even withdrew the limit drug and refused to sell it.

In the past decade, medicines have undergone several dozen price adjustments. Drug retailers said that after each price reduction order, 80% of the price limit drugs will disappear.

The "Limiting Order" did not allow the public to bid farewell to the "expensive treatment," and it turned out to be a "due death order" for drugs.

However, when the “tablet” falls, there is a batch of “capsules” and “granules” of the same ingredient that stand at least several times the price of the original tablet.

Changing the dosage form will allow the price-reducing drug to “return to life” and then put it on the pharmacy counter at a high price. Thus, the "price reduction order" became a prelude to the rise in the price of medicines.

Limit Order Warrant Drug Death Notice

Since the implementation of the “Limit Order”, drugs such as Ankangxin Capsule, Maxing Cough Drops, and Anshen Bunao Liquid have disappeared from the hospital pharmacy and pharmacy counters. Recently, Ms. Mu, a citizen, encountered an inconvenience. She suffers from chronic bronchitis. The sudden drop in temperature two weeks ago caused a constant cough. According to the traditional medication habits, she went to the pharmacy near the residential area to purchase Ma Xing Cough Tablets, but did not buy it. She speculated that it was the number of people who had recently suffered from the onset of tracheitis. The next few days, she went to several pharmacies and did not buy it. The pharmacy clerk recommended her for other cough medicines, but they are more expensive. Ms. Mu said that diseases like this, which are difficult to eradicate, require frequent cough medicines and generally eat cheap drugs. Before eating licorice tablets, licorice tablets can not buy it, change to eat Maling cough tablets, is it now Maling cough tablets have disappeared?

Can't buy it in a pharmacy, but in the hospital? Ms. Mu went to the two hospitals and did not open to Maxing cough tablets.

Ms. Zhang has the same confusion as Ms. Mu. Recently, she encountered the same difficulties when she bought Anshen Bunao for her daughter.

But compared to Mr. Wang, they are still lucky. Mr. Wang suffers from lung cancer and has been taking Ankangxin capsules with conservative treatment. For him, this is a life-saving drug, but he discovered that more than ten days ago, he could not buy this medicine anywhere. Since this is a popular anti-cancer drug, some of the patients he knows are also eating. The patients also face the same problem: The family's medicine eye is going to eat, but they can't buy it anymore. What can I do?

Last week, the reporter visited the city's Jianguo Pharmaceutical Chain Store, People's Tongyue Pharmacy, Fulong Pharmacy, Anfeng People's Pharmacy, and Chinese Pharmacy and other pharmacies. There were no Maling cough tablets. Some clerk told reporters that this drug has returned recently and it is gone.

The reporter went to a hospital in Harbin Medical University, the First Hospital of the City, and the Provincial Hospital to understand that there were no drugs such as Maling Cough Tablets and Ankangxin Capsules. The doctor introduced that An Kang Xin Capsule had previously existed, but it has not been recently, and it is not possible to come back later. Patients can only ask from time to time.

Last month, the Provincial Price Bureau issued the "Notice on setting the maximum retail price of some drugs", which limits the maximum retail price of 108 drugs. The price limit will be implemented from September 15, 2010. These medicines are medicines that have entered the National Health Insurance Catalogue and those whose society reflects high retail prices. After investigation, it was thought that there was room for price cuts for these drugs, so the maximum retail price was set and adjusted.

An Kang Xin capsule, Maxing Cough Tablet, Anshen Bunao Liquid are all in this list of price limits.

Two industry sources working in pharmacies and hospitals revealed that the state-owned units are more compliant and will not operate at a price. Therefore, from the day the price limit order is implemented, all of these drugs will be sold out and returned to the manufacturers. In the past, this kind of situation was many and the manufacturers gave back. Because from a certain manufacturer, it is surely not to enter a drug, even if the drug money has been paid, it can be deducted from the drug money of other drugs.

Both doctors and pharmacy staff said that the maximum retail price set in the province is too low, and the purchase price of the drug is higher than this, which means that every pill sold loses money. Hospitals and pharmacies will not lose money to sell drugs. .

However, some hospitals and pharmacies have also stated that each time the price reduction is ordered, they have to let some drugs disappear. This has nothing to do with hospitals or pharmacies. It is because manufacturers refuse to cut prices.

How much profit is called profit?

The retail price of Ma Xing Cough Tablets is more than five times the wholesale price. The average person thinks that this is considered “profiteering” and is not considered embarrassing in the field of drug circulation. It is also common in tens of times. Is it "irrational" unreasonable, leading to the disappearance of drugs?

The reporter asked the acquaintance to check the price of the apricot cough tablet before it was removed. 0.26 g × 24 pieces was 8.5 yuan per box.

How much is it for its wholesale price? In the past, a large number of Maling cough tablets sold in our city were produced by Jilin Double Drugs. The reporter then asked the sales staff of the pharmacy staff for prices. The salesperson first asked the reporter whether he wanted to be an agent or to retail. The reporter stated that it was a pharmacy retailer. The other said that each box was worth 1.6 yuan. If you do the agency, the price can be discussed again if you purchase more.

It can be seen that the pharmacy retail price is 5.3 times the wholesale price. The Provincial Price Bureau's maximum retail price for this type of Maling cough tablets is 3.4 yuan, which is more than double the wholesale price. The pharmacy still claims no profit.

The reporter found out that some other manufacturers of cough medicines and cold medicines knew that the retail price of medicines was at least three times the wholesale price.

Three or five times the profit in the minds of consumers is considered "profiteering", but in the eyes of the industry is not worth mentioning. An agent of a drug and a medical representative spontaneously advised reporters not to pursue the profits of the basic medicine of Ma Xing Cough Tablets. None of the basic medicines such as this thin profit would be sold by hospitals. Those imported, anti-cancer drug profits that can't be bought by a doctor and can't be opened in a hospital are amazing, and the retail price is often dozens of times the cost price.

According to reports, the general pharmaceutical costs are not high, and the ex-factory price is relatively low. The ex-factory price of most commonly used drugs is actually a few dollars, but after an increase in the price of an agent, a second-tier agent and a terminal pharmacy, there are hospitals, The pharmacy entrance fees, procurement managers and related drug sales promotion commissions, and even the doctor's entertainment and other medical representatives of the public relations fees, etc., and ultimately put the drug prices up significantly.

Which link is the most profitable? According to industry sources, it is the terminal, which is the pharmacy and the doctor... The rebate of the terminal is more. The profit of pharmacies or hospitals is also at least 35%. Of course, some hospitals in particular, some reach 300%. Now cheap drugs or limit drugs, pharmacies are reluctant to enter, because the profits are relatively low, so there are few pharmacies willing to allow this drug to enter the market, there will be no promoters are willing to sell this drug. Even if the pharmacy sells, it is also posing.

The prices of some essential medicines are still profitable for manufacturers, but hospitals and pharmacies are too profitable to operate. The wholesale price of Maling cough tablets is 1.6 yuan, and the retail price of a nationally-defined pharmacy is not more than 3.4 yuan. There is only a 1 time difference in the price. Compared with some medicines that are not included in the basic medicine list, the profit is too low. . With low profits, hospitals and pharmacies are reluctant to sell such drugs. What will pharmaceutical companies do?

Turn "noodles" into "instant noodles"

Chuanxinlian Tablets “dead”, and the Andorlian Dripping Pill “lives”, changing face, the same ingredients, the same efficacy, but the shape is different, the price is 4 times the previous. Tablets, granules, effervescent tablets, capsules, granules and other dosage forms have come on stage. A joke said that one day, noodles and buns fight, noodles lost to escape. Buns caught up in an alley and saw instant noodles. They said that instant noodles beat him up. Don't think you're hot, I don't know you.

The pharmaceutical company is taking the “noodle” into “instant noodles” in a way that “limits the price” to “death.”

The reporter visited pharmacies and hospitals to track this "precedent."

At present, there are multiple seasons of cardio-cerebral vascular disease, taking Nimodipine, a commonly used drug for patients with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, as an example. In September last year, China's "National Essential Drug List" and its price list showed that: Nimodipine dispersible tablets 20 mg × 30 tablets, the maximum retail price per box should be 8.9 yuan.

Last week, the reporter had almost visited pharmacies in the Daoli, Daowai and Nangang districts of the city. There was no pharmacy selling this medicine. Most sales staff recommend nimodipine sustained-release tablets to reporters and claim that the ingredients and effects of sustained-release tablets and dispersible tablets are the same. However, the price of nimodipine sustained-release tablets is 28 yuan per box, which is more than three times that of nimodipine dispersible tablets.

A staff member of a well-known drug factory told the reporter that drug price control does not distinguish between specific production and management companies. It is a generic name, that is, the main ingredient of a drug, not a product name. Therefore, simply changing the product name cannot achieve the purpose of raising prices. . If you want to increase the price of drugs of the same ingredient, only change the dosage form, such as changing the dispersible tablets into sustained-release tablets, tablets into capsules, granules, effervescent tablets, etc., in order to distinguish them from those products that are limited by the price of the country. Of course, changes in dosage form require the approval of the State Food and Drug Administration. Judging from the effect, approvals abound.

Another example is the "yellow-yellow film" in the "price cut list" last year. The adjusted price of 24 pieces is 3.2 yuan per box, but it has been difficult to find in the market. The reporter saw a 36-pack silver yellow capsule at the pharmacy, priced at 21.6 yuan.

In an interview with the reporter, it was found that tracking "limit price drugs" did not even track down the last batch of limit drugs, although at present there were only 20 days before the "limit order" issued by our province, but some manufacturers had already included these drugs as early as possible. In the "Basic Drug List," they have already begun to "adapt to the market." In the limit price table in our province, the maximum price for 24 tablets is 4 yuan. However, the reporter did not see this drug in dozens of pharmacies visited. There is only a 9-pack, 3 day dosage of Andrographis Dripping Pill. The price is 19 yuan, which is more than four times that of tablets.

Is there a difference in efficacy? According to insiders, the dosage forms are different, but the ingredients inside are the same and the effects are the same. It is like meatballs made of balls and dumplings. Its ingredients are all of this meat, except that you look outside the shape is not the same. If the profit of tablets of the same kind is reduced, the pharmaceutical company can change tablets into capsules or granules, change their faces, have the same ingredients and the same efficacy, but different shapes and different prices of drugs will come out.

How to make "cake" into "true cake"

The “Limiting Order” has gradually become a “painting cake” with high drug prices. People have very low expectations of the “cake” and have no report on the price of the drug. The relevant departments should improve the drug registration system, and the public should master the skills for buying drugs. According to the regulations, 108 medicines such as Ankangxin capsules are formulated (adjusted) according to the common name, and medicines sold by various types of medical and health institutions, social retail pharmacies, and other pharmaceutical production and distribution units must not exceed the prescribed prices.

During the investigation, the reporter found that many pharmacies did not implement the new price. For example, for the three yellow films, the maximum retail price is set at 3.7 yuan, and the selling price at the Jianguo Pharmaceutical chain pharmacy is 8.6 yuan, and the price is 6 yuan at the Upper Street Health Medicine Store.

The reporter learned from the supervisory department that no consumer has reported the price of the pharmacy. Both consumers and management departments have focused on hospitals. Some consumers told reporters that they often hear the news that prices for medicines are falling. Each adjustment involves hundreds to hundreds of medicines. However, over the past ten years, it has become more expensive to buy medicines. In the past, the “violation price” would also be seriously reported, and now it is too lazy to compare with this one.

A pharmacy official told reporters that after each "decrease order" was introduced, 80% of the price-limiting drugs disappeared. This is the reason why consumers do not feel the price of medicine is lowering.

A pharmaceutical representative said that if the profits are reduced, the promotion efforts of manufacturers, including related sales policies, will be reduced or reduced, resulting in businesses that are not interested in operating such products. Naturally, they will choose products with different dosage forms and prices that are not within the scope of national price control. . As a result, consumers receive limited benefits from "price reduction orders."

Why is the relevant department still lowering drug prices through this method? People in the price department told reporters that they found that the price gap between some medicines and retail prices was extremely high. The price cuts were extremely large, and they set the maximum retail prices based on the cost price and the corresponding profits. What is ridiculous is that the price of some medicines for tendering and procurement is higher than the highest retail price. There are so many potential benefits that can be imagined, and all these secretly-divided profits are paid by consumers. The establishment of a ceiling price is actually a warning bell for these actions.

In this case, consumers should also learn to buy drugs. According to an industry insider, it is not a cheap medicine that is not a good medicine, and it is not a difference between a small manufacturer's medicine and a big brand. For instance, the Qinghuo capsule produced by a pharmaceutical factory is ex-factory price less than two yuan, but when it reaches the terminal pharmacy, the retail price will reach 20 yuan. For a layman, this medicine is a good medicine. In fact, many inexpensive cleansing medicines are better than this. Consumers should choose drugs that are reasonably priced. Under normal circumstances, this kind of commonly used drug manufacturers with reasonable prices will have less rebates and pharmacies will have to sell them. Therefore, the placement of these drugs is not conspicuous, such as at the bottom of the counter, the innermost, the most inconspicuous place. . On the contrary, those medicines with rebates and high profits are placed at your hand, or in the most prominent places.

Relevant persons in the field of drug distribution have repeatedly told reporters that the government regulators should make it clear that a simple “price limit” cannot solve the problem of high drug prices once and for all. It is more important than finding a "price limit notice" to find a radical solution to eliminate the phenomenon of "limit price death." At the same time, strict examination and approval of "new drugs" and improvement of the national drug registration system will not give the drugs a chance to "dead."