Generic drug companies will be 'more difficult'

2022 is a very special year, and the pharmaceutical industry is no exception, especially for generic drug companies, the impact of various difficulties is far more than a single problem. The author is in a generic drug company and deeply feels that 2022 will not be easy.

The following summarizes the 2022 of generic drug companies from six keywords.

01

Restricted

The epidemic has limited the activities of pharmaceutical companies.

The 85th Drug Fair, originally scheduled for the end of 2021, was postponed to September 2022, and countless other academic exchange activities were restricted.

R&D personnel can't travel to find good projects, sales staff can't travel to visit customers, marketers can't carry out promotion activities, medical staff can't carry out diagnosis and treatment activities... The epidemic has interrupted the communication activities of medical professionals.

At the same time, the epidemic has limited patient visits, and the number of hospitalizations in China fell by nearly 30 million in 2021.

The epidemic has also affected the flow of goods. At present, there are still many cities where logistics are not smooth, and products cannot be delivered as soon as possible and on time.

Fortunately, all this will eventually pass, and medical people should consider how to live in the post-epidemic era. Recalling the "madness" of running three cities the day before the epidemic, the author actually felt a happy memory.

02

Price

In 2022, the common words that linger in the offices of generic drug companies are price reductions - bidding is price reduction, centralized procurement is price reduction, bid response is price reduction, bid renewal or price reduction.

In addition, the change of partners is because of price reduction, the adjustment of assessment policy is because of price reduction, and the final reason for optimizing the organizational structure is also because of price reduction, which is convenient for open source and cost reduction.

03

compliance

Under the epidemic, compliance efforts have increased.

Everyone knows that fiscal and tax compliance is well known that in 2022, the intensity is increasing unabated, and it is developing in the direction of normalization, standardization and institutionalization, with the implementation of the "Golden Tax Phase IV", the road of "high opening" and "gold" will gradually be completely blocked in the future, presumably medical people have a perception.

Let's talk about quality compliance.

In fact, quality compliance in 2022 will be very strong, and a major reason why many generic drug companies have no drugs to sell is that products are stopped and upgraded due to quality compliance reasons.

In the past two years, the quality flight inspection has been strengthened, the process verification is really done, the quality is no small matter, and pharmaceutical companies dare not be sloppy in quality requirements. Although the local cost of pharmaceutical companies has increased, the quality of generic drugs has also improved, and the ultimate benefit is patients.

04

Schema adjustments

In 2022, the personnel and organizational structure of foreign companies will change frequently, and the same will be true for generic drug companies.

Is the salesperson diverted to Commerce or Marketing? Is the compliance department under the Finance Department? Will the market access department report directly to the marketing CEO after the expansion? All these problems run from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.

In the past, structural adjustments were usually a matter of the end of the year, but this year is different. This is mainly because there are national and local centralized procurement this year, and after centralized procurement, everything needs to change, and the first is the organizational structure.

05

Gradually there is no medicine to sell

Most generic drug companies have no drugs to sell, not without approvals, mainly because prices have fallen. Selling drugs and selling products are two different concepts, and in a trance, many medical people will find that there is no medicine to sell.

In the future, as the consistency evaluation policy takes root and products that have not passed the consistency evaluation are gradually withdrawn from the market, many generic drug companies will enter a real "no product to sell" period.

On November 5, Bi Jingquan, Deputy Director of the Economic Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and Executive Vice Chairman of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, delivered a keynote speech on "Promoting the Collaborative Governance of Medical Insurance and Medicine and Promoting the High-quality Development of the Industry" at the 5th Hongqiao International Economic Forum.

In summary, it is to encourage innovation, improve the quality of generic drugs, and improve the level of supervision.

Therefore, a large part of the various sorrows and joys experienced by pharmaceutical companies are due to policies, the inevitable result of the era of high-quality development, and the inevitable requirements of a healthy China.

06

The hardest time has not yet arrived

Another drawback of the epidemic is that it covers up the real problems of generic drug companies, and many medical people will think that after the epidemic, everything will be fine, but in the author's opinion, the most difficult time for generic drug companies has not yet come.

With the advancement of the combination of pharmaceutical policies and the reshuffle of the industry, some generic drug companies will face a period of life and death. Loss of standard, loss, no products to sell, loss of personnel, dissolution...

Bi Jingquan mentioned that at present, there are 5,238 generic drugs that have passed the consistency evaluation and approved for marketing according to the new standards, covering nearly 900 varieties, but they are only half of the drugs often used by medical institutions, so it is still necessary to vigorously promote the consistency evaluation work.

When common clinical varieties are collected, it is the most difficult time for most generic drug companies. In the future, how many pharmaceutical companies can meet the drug needs of Chinese people, the author believes that even considering the international market, 500-800 generic drugs under China's speed are enough.

Generic drugs look at approvals in the short term, raw materials in the medium term, and patents in the long term, and innovation may be the most correct posture for generic drug companies to help themselves.

2022 is about to pass, looking forward to the future, at the level of the international environment, the world has entered a new period of turmoil, but the communication between countries is gradually strengthened; At the epidemic level, its impact is gradually being digested, and China is entering a post-epidemic period; At the industry level, policy promotion is still accelerating and deepening, promoting the healthy development of the pharmaceutical industry.

Looking forward to 2023!