700% growth rate can't beat centralized procurement?

Recently, Yangtze River Pharmaceutical Co.

Vortioxetine Hydrobromide Tablets is an antidepressant jointly developed by Denmark's Lundbeck Pharmaceuticals and Japan's Takeda Pharmaceuticals.

In China, vortioxetine hydrobromide is still in the market development stage, but at the same time, the drug is also the fastest growing star in the domestic antidepressant drug market

Although sales in China are currently limited, vortioxetine hydrobromide is the blockbuster drug Lundbeck relies on most in the global market

With the amazing growth rate of vortioxetine hydrobromide, the future imagination space in China is also promising enough, if there is no "spoiler" of generic drugs

In fact, generics have long knocked on the door

The core compound patent of vortioxetine hydrobromide tablets in China will expire in October 2022, and the patents related to crystal forms have also encountered invalid challenges

Of course, it's not just a Lundbeck MNC that needs to think about it

01

Antidepressants under centralized collection

The domestic antidepressant market is growing rapidly every year

With the gradual improvement of the public's awareness of depression, the treatment rate and treatment rate of depression have also continued to increase in recent years, which has stimulated the growth of the domestic antidepressant drug market

According to data, from 2015 to 2019, the sales of terminal antidepressants in China's public medical institutions were 5.

But at the same time, there are data showing that the treatment rate of depression patients in China is still at a low level, and the proportion of people who actually receive effective antidepressant treatment is still less than 10%, and the market potential is huge

In the face of such an attractive market, there are naturally many domestic pharmaceutical companies

Helping domestic pharmaceutical companies to reverse the situation is the implementation of policies related to consistency evaluation and volume-based procurement

In the first five batches of centralized procurement carried out by the state, antidepressants were included in the first, third, fourth, and fifth batches of centralized procurement, with a total of 8 models

In the face of centralized procurement, multinational pharmaceutical companies and domestic companies have adopted diametrically opposed attitudes

On the other hand, "barefoot" domestically-reviewed generic drugs are naturally active, wanting to exchange lower prices for higher sales, and take advantage of the situation
.

During the negotiation of the third batch of sertraline hydrochloride tablets adopted, a staff member of Jingxin Pharmaceutical told reporters at the scene quite easily, "Pfizer gives up, choose two out of three, we will win
.
" In the end, Huahai Pharmaceutical, Jingxin Pharmaceutical won the bid
.

But then sales gave the original research Pfizer a blow
.
Sertraline hydrochloride tablets have long been the top 2 drugs in the antidepressant drug market, and some analysts have pointed out that its dominance is mainly dependent on high market penetration and high sales prices, and the price drop brought about by centralized procurement has almost eliminated both of these two points.
broke
.

The data shows that sertraline hydrochloride tablets are the antidepressant varieties with the largest decline in the third batch of centralized purchases
.
While still in the top spot, Pfizer's market share has slipped from over 70% in 2020 to 56% in the first half of 2021
.
On the other hand, the market shares of Huahai and Jingxin have risen rapidly, and Huahai Pharmaceutical has risen from less than 10% in 2020 to more than 20% in the first half of 2021
.

The drop in the price of antidepressant products within the scope of the first few batches of centralized procurement is breaking the advantages established by multinational pharmaceutical companies, and Lundbeck is not immune
.

Lundbeck has launched a total of 6 products in the Chinese market through independent promotion and cooperative promotion, including 4 antidepressants
.
It is revealed that its entire antidepressant product line has a market share of more than 20% in China, ranking first among branded drugs
.

Without large-scale mergers and acquisitions, and without a huge sales team, Lundbeck, which cannot win by "scale", has gained a place in the Chinese market by relying on specialized products
.
In 2018, the first thing Dai Luran, the new general manager of Lundbeck China, took office was to take back the promotion rights of the antidepressant escitalopram tablets
.
The drug was previously jointly promoted by Lundbeck and Xi'an Janssen.
Like Sertraline Hydrochloride Tablets, it is the best-selling antidepressant drug in the domestic market
.
Dai Luran has said that withdrawing the drug further strengthens Lundbeck's long-term strategy of influence in the field of depression
.

But in the face of centralized procurement, the ambitious Lundbeck encountered setbacks
.

Since 2018, both sales and market share, Lundbeck's escitalopram tablets have declined significantly
.
The bid price of Shandong Dongwei centralized procurement was 28 yuan, while the sales price retrieved by Lundbeck at the pharmacy terminal was nearly 70 yuan
.

According to Yaozhi.
com's hospital sales data, its hospital sales in 2018 were 750 million yuan in 2018, accounting for 46%, while the sales of generic drugs in Shandong Tianwei were about 555 million yuan, accounting for 34%; The sales of escitalopram tablets is only 394 million yuan, which is lower than the 501 million yuan of Shan Dongwei, and the market share of 29% is much lower than that of Shan Dongwei, losing the first position
.

Dai Luran once said that although Lundbeck was not selected in the volume procurement, Lundbeck's commitment to Chinese patients will not change, and it will continue to cooperate with the government to provide high-quality drug choices for experts and patients, but the challenge is obviously huge.
of
.

Despite its impressive growth potential, escitalopram's presence today seems to imply pressure on vortioxetine hydrobromide, which will also be under pressure once the patent expires
.

02

MNC under centralized acquisition

Centralized procurement is an insurmountable mountain for every pharmaceutical company
.

Changchun Hi-Tech, the former big white horse, could not escape.
After the core product growth hormone encountered centralized procurement, it fell by more than 27% in two trading days
.

The situation faced by foreign original pharmaceutical companies with a high market share is very similar to that of Changchun Hi-Tech
.

Industry insiders with many years of experience in the market access of foreign-funded pharmaceutical companies told the manager of E-pharmaceuticals that generally, for products that have reached the stage of centralized procurement, foreign capital does not need to consider maintaining the global price system, but more to consider the market size, Market share, channels, competition pattern and cost, etc.
, the core is to measure the final sales and profit levels
.
Finally, make a decision on whether to enter the centralized procurement and at what price to enter the centralized procurement
.

In the past, original research pharmaceutical companies have made many strategic attempts in the process of centralized procurement, and gradually explored suitable models, but this is only limited to powerful large-scale comprehensive pharmaceutical companies
.
The situation faced by specialized pharmaceutical companies is much more difficult.
They usually have no chance for trial and error.
"Especially specialized pharmaceutical companies whose products rely on in-hospital channels are really powerless in the face of centralized procurement," said the aforementioned industry insiders
.

Specifically, if the varieties with a market share of more than 50% and sales of over 100 million yuan fail to win the bid, the company will suffer a greater loss
.
In the third round of national centralized procurement, the core product of Santian Pharmaceutical, levofloxacin eye drops, was included in the centralized procurement list for the first time.
Since the domestic sales of this product exceeded 1 billion yuan, the domestic market share accounted for 60%, and Santian Pharmaceutical and generic drug manufacturers Yangzijiang Pharmaceutical and Zhongshan Wanhan launched a fierce price war, but ultimately lost
.
At that time, Santian told Japanese media, "It was expected that the winning price would be extremely low, so it did not actively strive for the winning bid
.
"

In the following year, I tasted the "bitter fruit" of the centralized harvest
.
In the first three quarters of fiscal 2020, Santian China's levofloxacin eye drops reached 9.
5 billion yen (about 590 million yuan), accounting for about 40% of Santian China's revenue
.
60% of the sales are contributed by large public hospitals.
Regardless of whether it is really "inactive", this part of the income will also "disappear in stages" after the bid is awarded
.
Santen Pharmaceutical President Taniuchi Yuki also admitted at the financial briefing, "The short-term revenue reduction (caused by the failure of the bid) is unavoidable, and will accelerate the development of new products and expand the private hospitals, pharmacies, Internet diagnosis and treatment markets, etc.
, which have not been involved before.
areas to tide over the difficulties
.
”

The experience of "failure" often becomes the "reference" for the latecomers to make strategies
.
It has become a reality to obtain admission tickets to the centralized purchasing market by sharply reducing prices on core and important varieties
.
For example, in the fourth batch of centralized procurement, Fresenius Kabi, a manufacturer of injection products, adopted this low-price strategy for propofol medium/long-chain fat emulsion injection
.
At that time, the results showed that Fresenius Kabi's original propofol medium/long-chain fat emulsion injection reported the lowest winning bid price of 9.
86 yuan per piece, which was 85% lower than the maximum price.
The other four companies participated in the quotation.
Respectively, Yangtze River 12.
5 yuan / branch, Yingke 13.
4 yuan / branch, Kelun 14.
9 yuan / branch, Germany Braun 15.
5 yuan / branch
.

According to data from Minet.
com, in the first half of 2020, the sales of propofol medium/long-chain fat emulsion injection at the terminals of public medical institutions in China was 1.
9 billion yuan, of which Fresenius Kabi accounted for 61.
92% of the market and sales more than 700 million yuan
.

Even for large comprehensive pharmaceutical companies, the strategy at the forefront of centralized procurement is from "struggling" to "turning around"
.

Sanofi is a good example
.
In the centralized procurement strategy of its ace product Plavix, Sanofi chose to wait and see in the first round, but sales dropped significantly after the bid was dropped; when it came to the second round of expansion, Sanofi won the bid with the largest drop, and calculated the price of a single piece Also the lowest
.

How will specialized pharmaceutical companies get through the difficult period of centralized procurement? This is a problem that towering and Lundbeck urgently need to solve
.