Soaring 20 times!

Author: Clover

Recently, Sining (Carzodopa sustained-release tablets) is out of stock, and the price has soared nearly 20 times
.

Sining (carzodopa sustained-release tablets) is a compound dopa preparation.
It is a commonly used drug for the treatment of Parkinson's disease.
It is developed and produced by Merck Pharmaceuticals, Italy, and is an exclusive product
.

According to CCTV Financial News, Carzodopa sustained-release tablets have been out of stock on the market recently, and many patients have posted in "Parkinson's Bar" to buy drugs from their patients in order to seek medicine
.
At the same time, after inquiry, the original price of Xining was around 50 yuan/box.

Image source: screenshot of Jingdong Mall

In fact, according to people familiar with the matter, the large-scale shortage of Xining is not a recent event.
It has been out of stock for a long time in the past year
.
Related patients need to pay attention to the status of drug supply in real time in order to hope to buy Xining at a normal drug price.

What is the reason for the shortage?

So why is there a large-scale shortage of Xining? What is the reason for the price soaring?

As early as 2016, when Sining was out of stock for the first time, Merck reported to the outside world that the reason for the outage was due to production factors; in January 2019, Merck again stated that due to production plants, it would affect Sining globally.
Supply, it is expected that the Chinese market will not be able to supply normally
.

In July of the same year, Merck issued an announcement to the American Parkinson’s Disease Association stating that after striving to ensure a reliable and stable supply and after careful and extensive evaluation, its company decided to stop supplying SINEMET continuous release (CR) preparations in the United States
.

Regarding the specific reasons for the shortage of supply, Merck did not respond; however, it has stated to the outside world that it is currently working closely with relevant government departments to try to restore the normal supply of Sining in the Chinese market as soon as possible to meet the needs of patients.
Demand; and it is recommended that patients who are using Xining consult medical professionals as soon as possible, and choose a suitable treatment plan according to the doctor's advice
.

The reporter has not yet understood the reason for the shortage of supply from various channels; however, there is news that due to the impact of the new crown epidemic, there is a shortage of raw materials
.
However, some analysts believe that the deeper reasons for Xining’s out-of-stock may be affected by the centralized procurement of pharmaceuticals by the country

Is it the "pot" of centralized procurement?

According to combing statistics, since 2018, the state has implemented five batches of centralized drug purchases, covering a total of 218 drugs.
The average price of selected drugs has been reduced by 54%, and the cost of drugs has been saved by 150 billion yuan
.
This greatly reduces the space for falsely high drug prices, and greatly reduces the burden of medication for medication patients

However, centralized procurement is also a double-edged sword.
While mass procurement reduces the price of generic drugs, it greatly reduces the profit margins of the company.
At the same time, it also forces the original research drugs that have not been selected for patent expiration to defend the market.
Choose to reduce prices.
For example, Eli Lilly actively applied to lower the price of pemetrexed disodium for injection in Zhejiang Province, and Novartis reduced the price of imatinib in Shanghai and many other places
.

In an interview, Li Gang, the deputy dean of the Dongfang Hospital affiliated to Tongji University, also said: “The shortage of medicines is mainly due to two types of reasons.
The first type is the reason of raw materials, such as the fact that the raw materials themselves are relatively small; the second is the enterprise.
Reasons for profit
.
"

Therefore, when the supply is relatively scarce, companies often choose to supply in order to pursue greater economic benefits, especially multinational pharmaceutical companies
.

In fact, it is not only the original research drug, but also the successful generic drug product
.
This is a typical case.

However, some analysts believe that Xining’s outage is purely due to the shortage of raw materials for the epidemic, and Merck has also said that it has not received a notice of cessation of production from Xining.
Perhaps this is not unrelated to the deliberate hoarding of goods by middlemen, but is related to centralized procurement.
The relevance is not great
.

However, in the face of long-term supply shortages and skyrocketing prices of Xining, the current top priority should be to control the price mechanism of shortage drugs and propose alternative plans
.

Alternative and generic drugs geometry?

According to the "Guidelines for the Treatment of Parkinson's Disease in China (Fourth Edition)" released in December 2020, the single-agent and combination therapy programs for Parkinson's disease are proposed, showing that levodopa preparations are the most basic and most important treatment for Parkinson's disease One of the drugs
.

According to Yaozhi data, up to now, there are about 25-30 anti-PD drugs approved by the FDA, involving multiple drug targets, of which there are about 15 dopamine drugs
.
For example, Boehringer Ingelheim's pramipexole, Roche's Medopa (dopaszine tablets) and Si Laimer (compound carbidopa tablets), Novartis Pharmaceuticals' bromocriptine, etc.

Among them, it is worth mentioning that pramipexole has already launched Qilu, Hengrui, Jingxin, CSPC and other generic drugs, and Xinhua Pharmaceutical is also carrying out the Roche Medopa project.
Many pharmaceutical companies have also registered and applied for imitations, and are currently in clinical research.
Handu Pharmaceutical is currently in phase 2 clinical trials
.

Carzodopa domestic generic drug application and registration details

According to statistics, there are about 10 million Parkinson's patients in the world, of which China accounts for about one-third, and there are about 3 million patients, and the annual growth rate is 100,000
.
There is still a big gap in Parkinson's medication

Reference materials:

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Public information such as "Drug Expensive and Drug Shortage-Shows the Regret of Low-Priced Collection of Medical Insurance"