Ye Tan: a radical cure for the separation of medicine from medicine is better than severe punishment

GlaxoSmithKline may withdraw from China in response to the huge fines imposed by the Chinese government, according to the CCTV financial review, the voice of economy GlaxoSmithKline, a British pharmaceutical company, is threatening to withdraw from the Chinese market, forcing China to reduce the possible fine of up to 20 billion yuan, the Daily Telegraph quoted unnamed sources as saying The fine is nearly three times GlaxoSmithKline's revenue in China last year The BBC said GlaxoSmithKline would also face fines from Britain and the United States if it admitted the Chinese government's allegations In addition, Reuters quoted three people familiar with the situation as reporting that the US Department of justice is investigating GlaxoSmithKline's bribery in China However, in view of the statement of "leaving China", more analysis suggests that it is likely to be the negotiation strategy of GlaxoSmithKline "GlaxoSmithKline has a lot of factories and 8000 employees in China, so it's unlikely to withdraw GlaxoSmithKline is not Google," said a drug company executive The bribery of pharmaceutical companies is not only in China, but also in the world, many famous large pharmaceutical companies have been fined for different bribery However, in recent years, China has become a disaster area of commercial bribery of multinational companies According to media reports, before GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Siemens, Pfizer, Lilly and other multinational pharmaceutical companies had been involved in the scandal of suspected bribery in China It also fully exposed the serious problems existing in our pharmaceutical system, especially in drug pricing and sales Whether GlaxoSmithKline is really overburdened and ready to leave China, or a threat and negotiation means, the severe investigation and punishment of this large pharmaceutical enterprise by the public security department fully reflects our determination to rectify the drug market and rationalize the drug pricing mechanism Drug companies that pay bribes should be severely punished, but this is only the first step What's more important is to fundamentally reform the medical system, rationalize the drug pricing mechanism, and create a fair competition market environment for drug companies Without the soil for bribery, the behavior of seizing market share through bribery will naturally disappear Ye Tan, a special commentator and financial columnist of the voice of economy, commented on this A spokesman for GlaxoSmithKline declined to comment, calling it "an individual report," saying the company has long been committed to the Chinese market, according to an article published by the US medical news network What do you think? Is it really possible to withdraw, or is it just a negotiation strategy aimed at forcing China to reduce the amount of fines? Ye Tan: I think it's a retreat for progress approach It's a game strategy For GlaxoSmithKline, the Chinese market has always been the market in which it takes root, and its future share will also expand in its global proportion In the future, China will enter into aging, and the consumption of health care and medical care will definitely increase dramatically Therefore, it will be a very heavy blow for this world-famous pharmaceutical enterprise to exit from the Chinese market, and its previous costs will become the cost of silence But in one case, it will withdraw, that is, when the punishment of the Chinese government makes the company face global fines and penalties, it will be an unbearable burden for the company For example, with its bribery situation in China, the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom will investigate it, then file a lawsuit, and carry out a large-scale punishment In this way, for GlaxoSmithKline, it is equivalent to a fire in the backyard Its most important source of profit has been shaken At this time, it can only withdraw If this is just a negotiation method of GlaxoSmithKline, is it possible to reduce our fine? Yetan: I don't think it's too likely For GlaxoSmithKline, according to the evidence of anti-monopoly investigation, it is very sufficient, so the possibility to reduce it is not too great, but I think GlaxoSmithKline can play a game through this matter, it may pay so many fines on the surface, 20 billion, but it may get some profits in the future, which are all game tactics However, in any case, through the punishment of GlaxoSmithKline, the Chinese government has shown its determination to fight against monopoly At the same time, it is also reflected in China's pharmaceutical system There are already serious problems in using medicine to support medicine These well-known pharmaceutical enterprises are not immune We can imagine how deep and muddy the water in this market is Many enterprises believe that they can't get the support of the government, hospitals and doctors without bribery, which seems to be a recognized principle If we don't bribe, we can't compete for the market Then we need to change the drug pricing mechanism, which is an important part of the future medical system reform Medical reform has been carried out for so many years, but why is it still difficult to change it from the root? Ye Tan: I think it's a very difficult thing to reform the medicine based medicine Up to now, our reform has not changed the current situation of medicine based medicine Moreover, it's more common Drug rebate has become a potential rule that we all abide by in the drug market In order to solve the problem fundamentally, we must separate medicine from medicine Medicine is medicine Each medicine has its own price and enters its own market For example, if it is a public hospital that the government must guarantee, the government must allocate sufficient funds Moreover, in the aspect of "medical treatment", medical diagnosis fees need to be adjusted according to different levels, some need to be increased, some need to be reduced If the private hospital also allows the "medical" part to be opened, it can support itself The other is medicine Only when the drug market is independent and decoupled from the hospital can the drug market have a more correct pricing system and change the current way In the middle of July, Zhu Dezheng, deputy director of the medicine department of the price department of the national development and Reform Commission, revealed three ideas, including: reforming the pricing method, improving the cost-based pricing method; reforming the separate pricing policy, gradually narrowing the price gap between the original research and development and the imitation; reforming the price increase policy in the circulation link, etc What do you think is the key point of the reform to solve the problem of high drug prices and eliminate commercial bribery? Ye Tan: in fact, there are thousands of reforms, and the last one is that the government does what the government does, and the market does what the market does We are not doing a good job in the government, such as public hospitals, and the government funding is not enough On the other hand, if the drug market is an original drug, its R & D risk is very high, of course, it is priced by the market If the market sets a high price, there is no need for the government to intervene For generic drugs, there is no R & D risk At this time, especially for medical insurance drugs, the government can consider one aspect of public welfare, but first of all, it is important to respect the pricing rules of the market and the originality of the market.