With the continuous top-level policies in the field of traditional Chinese medicine, what development opportunities does the industry need to grasp?

The field of traditional Chinese medicine may usher in major development opportunities under a series of intensive policies.

On December 30, the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine published the Guiding Opinions of the State Medical Security Administration and the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine on Medical Insurance supporting the inheritance and innovative development of traditional Chinese medicine (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions") to further support the innovation of the Traditional Chinese medicine industry.

The largest collection in the field of proprietary Chinese medicines also ended on the 27th, involving 19 provinces "Centralized Procurement Announcement of the Interprovincial Alliance of Proprietary Chinese Medicines" The results show that the average price of the proposed selection of 111 proprietary Chinese medicine products was 42.27%, and the maximum reduction was 82.63%; at the same time, the collection and procurement industry of the 6 provinces of the Proprietary Chinese Medicine Alliance led by Guangdong has been launched.

The reform in the field of traditional Chinese medicine is imminent, what impact will the relevant top-level policies continue to bring to the traditional Chinese medicine industry?

Herbal formula granules first

The above-mentioned "Opinions" proposes that eligible Chinese medicine tablets, proprietary Chinese medicines, and Chinese medicine preparations of medical institutions should be included in the medical insurance drug catalog. The allocation and use of proprietary Chinese medicines negotiated by the state and included in the medical insurance catalogue will be included in the monitoring and evaluation.

So, what is the difference between proprietary Chinese medicines and chemical drugs, biological drugs, and high-value medical consumables?

"From the perspective of collection, proprietary Chinese medicines are different from the collection of drugs and high-value medical consumables in the past, and proprietary Chinese medicines have several outstanding characteristics." Liang Jialin, secretary general of the Value Medical Consultant Expert Committee, said in an interview with First Financial Economics that for example, in addition to the high investment in research and development, the production cost of drugs and high-value medical consumables collected in the past will have a high cost unless some rare raw materials and spare parts are used, and the final cost will not be too high. However, for proprietary Chinese medicine, because its upstream is Chinese herbal medicine, some are still valuable Chinese herbal medicines, which has high requirements for the source and place of origin, so special attention should be paid to the collection process of proprietary Chinese medicines to avoid the quality of Chinese herbal medicines due to low prices.

To this end, the "inclusion of the allocation and use of proprietary Chinese medicines in the monitoring and evaluation" mentioned in the Opinions is of great importance.

Liang Jialin said that at present, the field of proprietary Chinese medicine has not specially promoted the consistency evaluation of quality and efficacy, but some large proprietary Chinese medicine companies have built their own planting bases for Chinese herbal medicines and have GAP (Good Agricultural Practice) certification.

"The state has previously proposed to evaluate the evidence-based medicine of proprietary Chinese medicines after they are listed, that is, to evaluate their clinical efficacy. This evaluation is similar to the concept of drug consistency evaluation, that is, the quality of the winning proprietary Chinese medicine products is continuously tracked and monitored. The clinical efficacy of proprietary Chinese medicines will also be linked to its subsequent qualifications for hanging up the net and the pricing rules for recruitment. Liang Jialin said.

In fact, the subdivision of "Chinese medicine formula granules" has taken the lead in landing evaluations. On November 1, the first batch of national standards (160) for Chinese medicine formula granules have been officially implemented, which provides a guarantee for the standardized process production, quality and safety of Chinese medicine formula granules.

"This shows that the quality of the products of Chinese medicine formula granules has a unified standard and threshold." Liang Jialin said that in the next stage, it is expected that the Chinese medicine formula granules will give priority to the collection of proprietary Chinese medicines at the national level, followed by proprietary Chinese medicines with slightly less standardization, and finally Chinese medicine tablets. ”

The capital market reacted strongly

Xinhua News Agency released a news on the 31st that "Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Shandong, Hunan, Guangdong, Sichuan and other 7 provinces were the first batch of approved to build a national demonstration zone for comprehensive reform of traditional Chinese medicine."

Affected by a series of Chinese medicine policies, as of the close of trading on the 31st, the average increase in the Chinese medicine industry sector was 22.4%, while the concept of Chinese medicine (BK0615) has risen by more than 22.4% since September.

Among them, Zoli Pharmaceutical (300181. SZ) rose nearly 20 percent, with the company mainly engaged in the development of traditional Chinese medicine products downstream of Wuling ginseng; other proprietary Chinese medicine companies with an increase of more than 10 percent, including Hongri Pharmaceutical (300026.SZ), Zeda Yisheng (688555. SH), Kaikai Industry (600272.SH), Jingjing Pharmaceutical (002349.SZ), etc.

According to the analysis of Guojin Securities, the "Opinions" will include some Chinese medicine tablets, proprietary Chinese medicines, and traditional Chinese medicine preparations of medical institutions into the medical insurance catalog, and at the same time clarify the pricing mechanism, further delineate the medical insurance fixed-point scope of traditional Chinese medicine drugs, which is "expected to increase the amount of traditional Chinese medicine in the hospital"; the "Opinions" will be in line with the "Prescription Management Measures" and "Hospital Chinese Medicine Tablets Management Specifications" but beyond the "Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China" Commonly prescribed dosage of Chinese medicine tablets into the scope of medical insurance payment, which "is expected to significantly expand the amount of traditional Chinese medicine from the clinical and demand side" 。

Guojin Securities also said that the "Opinions" highlights the government's emphasis on the Traditional Chinese medicine industry and its confidence in the future development of the industry, and the long-established brands with brand power and stronger companies in scientific and technological innovation in the future are expected to stand out.

The reporter also noted that the "Opinions" will promote the reform of the payment method of traditional Chinese medicine medical insurance, "explore the implementation of traditional Chinese medicine diseases to pay according to the score of diseases, select traditional Chinese medicine diseases, reasonably determine the score, and implement dynamic adjustments." Priority will be given to including the dominant diseases of traditional Chinese medicine issued by the state into the scope of payment by disease."

Some medical insurance experts believe that considering that the reform of medical insurance payment payment is imminent, under the emergency plan, the special items of traditional Chinese medicine can continue to be paid according to DRG groups, and those that have not been read can be paid separately; in the short term, the 3rd part of the clinical diagnosis and treatment terminology of traditional Chinese medicine, "treatment", can be included in the DRG group; in the long run, the 1st part of the clinical diagnosis and treatment terminology of chinese medicine, "disease", and the 2nd part "syndrome" can be included in the DRG group, and the system of traditional Chinese medicine can be used for grouping.