Is the future of Chinese medicine really beautiful?

Author: Wu Yanzu of Baiziwan

At the turn of the new year, the pharmaceutical industry is on the rise again
.

First, it was reported on the Internet that Chinese pharmaceutical companies were included in the restricted list by the United States, and the road to internationalization was blocked, resulting in a plunge in all sectors related to innovative drugs

Funds are looking for safe havens, and the traditional Chinese medicine sector, which has been tepid for many years, has become a fragrant pastry overnight
.

For a time, various brokerages and various media said that Chinese medicine must be said

Mr.
Piao once said that "business management can't stare at the stock price every day", so how should traditional Chinese medicine be developed as a traditional cultural treasure of the motherland? In recent years, the state has issued many policies in the field of traditional Chinese medicine, and continued to increase support and investment, which contains thinking and guidance on the future development path of traditional Chinese medicine
.

Figure 1.
Major policies of the Chinese medicine industry in recent years

Source: Government website, Zhongkang Industrial Capital Research Center

Strengthen medical insurance support

Strengthen medical insurance support

On December 30, 2021, the "Guiding Opinions" jointly issued by the National Medical Insurance Administration and the Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine promoted the reform of traditional Chinese medicine from the aspects of terminal coverage, pricing system, and payment system
.

Previously, some policies started from the top-level design, which was a little rhetorical but unrealistic, and this document has unprecedented benefits for the implementation of traditional Chinese medicine

Figure 2.
Core content of the "Guiding Opinions on Medical Insurance Supporting the Inheritance, Innovation and Development of Traditional Chinese Medicine"

Source: State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine website, Zhongkang Industrial Capital Research Center

From the core content of the "Guiding Opinions", it can be seen that traditional Chinese medicine medical services benefit the most from it.
The positive factors include: the inclusion of more terminals in medical insurance; the dynamic adjustment of prices makes the service possible to increase the price; the 25% markup of decoction pieces is reserved, and the in-hospital decoction pieces and The independent pricing of preparations and the transparency of the price of formula granules have a positive impact on the drug revenue of traditional Chinese medicine services; it is clear that the temporary absence of DRG payment can increase the amount of traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions
.

As a result, medical institutions obviously prefer traditional Chinese medicines with a variety of benefits compared to generic drugs and innovative drugs with zero mark-up and DRG payment

The "Guiding Opinions" encourages the inclusion of traditional Chinese medicine formula granules purchased by public medical institutions into provincial-level centralized pharmaceutical procurement platforms for online transactions to promote open and transparent transactions
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The gradual standardization of the national market medical insurance payment standard for formula granules will break the exclusive advantage of medical insurance reimbursement of provincial pilot enterprises under local protection, which is conducive to the orderly development of the market

Accelerate the development of traditional Chinese medicine

Accelerate the development of traditional Chinese medicine

On February 9, 2021, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Several Policies and Measures on Accelerating the Development of Traditional Chinese Medicine Characteristics" (hereinafter referred to as "policy measures"), which aims to give full play to the characteristics and comparative advantages of traditional Chinese medicine and promote the mutual complementation of traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine.
, Coordinated development
.

This document includes 28 policies and measures, covering 7 major aspects: consolidate the talent base of traditional Chinese medicine, improve the development vitality of the traditional Chinese medicine industry, enhance the development momentum of traditional Chinese medicine, improve the system of integrated traditional Chinese and western medicine, implement major projects for the development of traditional Chinese medicine, improve the development efficiency of traditional Chinese medicine, Create a favorable environment for the development of traditional Chinese medicine

Figure 3.
Main content of "Several Policies and Measures on Accelerating the Development of Traditional Chinese Medicine Characteristics"

Source: National government website, Zhongkang Industrial Capital Research Center

In terms of promoting the high-quality development of the traditional Chinese medicine industry, the first is to optimize the management of the review and approval of traditional Chinese medicines, and the second is to improve the management of the classification and registration of traditional Chinese medicines
.

The "Policy Measures" pointed out that it is necessary to strengthen the horizontal linkage of departments, and establish an effective mechanism for the departments of science and technology, medical care, and traditional Chinese medicine to recommend new traditional Chinese medicines to enter the fast-track review and approval channel

The "Policy Measures" further accelerated the review and approval of new Chinese medicines.
From 2017 to 2021, a total of 20 new Chinese medicines were approved for marketing, of which as many as 12 in 2021
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From the perspective of therapeutic areas, there are many drugs related to endocrine system and metabolic diseases, circulatory system diseases, musculoskeletal system diseases, and respiratory system diseases

Figure 4.
New Chinese medicines approved for marketing in China in 2021

Source: State Food and Drug Administration, Zhongkang Industrial Capital Research Center

Chinese medicine industry is expected to continue to prosper

Chinese medicine industry is expected to continue to prosper

Compared with Western medicine, traditional Chinese medicine has unique advantages in specific therapeutic areas, and it is mainly complementary and synergistic development with innovative drugs and generic drugs, rather than a zero-sum game
.
Driven by the policy, the launch of new traditional Chinese medicine drugs has been significantly accelerated, and the reform of traditional Chinese medicine formula granules has accelerated.
With the support of the national medical insurance, the traditional Chinese medicine industry is expected to achieve sustained prosperity in the future
.