Analysis Of The Advantages Of Generic Medicine In The Chinese Market

Compared with original researchdrugs, the advantages of generic medicine are mainly reflected in the followingtwo aspects:

1. Reduce the difficulty ofresearch and development

New drug research and developmentis an innovative activity involving complex systems of chemistry, biology,pharmacy, physiology, medicine and economics. A key bottleneck in the currentdrug discovery process is the identification of candidate compounds. The conventionalmethod is to conduct an item-by-item evaluation of the pharmacokinetics andsafety after the compounds are identified by pharmacodynamic screening. Theresulting various uncertain parameters in turn lead to repeated structuraloptimization, and finally an optimal clinical drug candidate is obtained. Sincethere is little experience in pioneering innovative drugs, China's level ofstructure-activity relationship research and drug screening is quite low. Fromthis point of view, as far as the current situation is concerned, it is stillquite difficult for China to directly carry out the research and development oforiginal research drugs. A considerable part of the technical accumulation ofgeneric drugs is through "learning by watching", that is, throughobservation, selection, reference, and imitation of the invention process ofexisting patented drugs, learning from observing the successes and mistakes ofpioneers, and learning from imitation.

External knowledge, cultivate andimprove their own skills, thereby promoting the improvement of their owninnovation capabilities, so it is especially suitable for countries orenterprises that are relatively backward in science and technology. It can beseen that for Chinese pharmaceutical companies with weak R&D capabilities,the advantages of generic medicine can be used as a shortcut for theirindependent R&D. On the other hand, as the largest developing country inthe world, China has considerable strength in basic disciplines such aschemistry and biology, and before the implementation of new drug patentprotection and drug administrative protection, my country's scientific andtechnological workers engaged in new drug research and development haveaccumulated There is a lot of imitation experience, and the synthesis processalso has a considerable foundation. Now we cannot imitate new drugsunconditionally like in the past.

Objective conditions require our scientificresearch institutions to transform the past imitation capabilities intoinnovation capabilities. In this transformation process, generic drugs areundoubtedly a good entry point, because by imitating innovation, we caneffectively integrate the advantageous resources of my country's research anddevelopment, and we can imitate developed countries to develop new drugresearch and development ideas and learn from their failures. Effectivelydevelop new drugs with independent intellectual property rights.

2. Reduce investment risk

From the point of view of economicbenefits, the research and development of new drugs is a kind of work withlarge investment, long cycle and high risk. At present, in the United States,the average cost of a new drug from research to market is more than 300 millionUS dollars, and the research period is about 10 years or even longer. And theodds that a new compound will eventually become a new drug is only one in10,000. Under the circumstance that China's new drug research and developmentfunds are seriously insufficient, imitation innovation is more in line with theprinciple of opportunity cost.

Furthermore, as an innovative activity, new drug R&D activities are intended and fundamentally aimed at the widespreadapplication of their results. As far as the entire R&D process isconcerned, the introduction of new ideas and new theories is of course veryimportant, but how to further put the results into commercial applications,spread to the society, and transform them into real productivity, truly achieve R&D goals, and obtain huge profits. Also very important. Therefore, fromthe perspective of the advantages of generic medicine, it is especiallysuitable for countries with insufficient capital investment and relativelybackward technology. In the pharmaceutical world, examples of imitativeinnovations with great success are ranitidine and famotidine. In order to finda drug to inhibit gastric acid secretion and treat peptic ulcer, Smith Klineconducted in-depth research on histamine H and 2 receptors after a longprocess, and finally launched the first H2 receptor blocker cimetidine in 1976.Subsequently, Glaxo and Merck conducted further research on their basis, andsoon developed ranitidine and famotidine respectively. In the subsequentmarketing, the annual sales of ranitidine The amount greatly surpassedcimetidine and became one of the best-selling drugs in the world.

It is precisely because of theseadvantages of generic medicine that it not only reduces the burden on patients,increases the choice of medication, but also promotes the sustainabledevelopment of the pharmaceutical industry. To improve the level of genericdrugs, we must start with the whole chain, not only to improve the quality andefficacy of drugs from R&D and production, but also to pave the way for themarket promotion and supply guarantee of generic drugs from the system. To sumup, generic drugs can be described as a reasonable choice for pharmaceuticalcompanies in a period of weak innovation capability, and the advantages ofgeneric medicine are also fully demonstrated. The implementation of thisstrategy will push China's new drug research and development into the fastlane.