Source: Photo.com
On April 16, according to the latest data from the American Society of Health System Pharmacists (ASHP) and the Utah Drug Information Service, a total of 323 drugs in the United States were in severe shortages in the first quarter of this year, surpassing the record high of 320 shortages in 2014. It is also the worst drug shortage in the United States since the organization began tracking it in 2001.
According to ASHP statistics, the supply of everything from rescue injections to diabetes medication is tight. Affected drugs include the widely used diabetes drugs Ozempic and Mounjaro, the allergy treatment drug epinephrine, the common antibiotic amoxicillin for children, chemotherapy drugs and injections commonly used in intensive care in hospitals.
ASHP CEO Paul Abramowitz said in a statement that almost all classes of drugs are facing a situation prone to shortages. The most worrying shortages relate to generic, sterile injectable drugs, including cancer chemotherapy drugs, as well as rescue drugs stored in hospital ambulances and surgical areas.
The American Cancer Society has warned that chemotherapy drugs have returned to the top five classes most affected by the shortage, and warned that it could have devastating effects on patients.
In this regard, Erin Fox, a pharmacist at the University of Utah who is responsible for collecting data on drug shortages, said that for many drugs, there may be only one or two suppliers, and once production capacity is lost, there is no additional redundant capacity.
Drug shortages are a global problem and not confined to the United States. China's pharmaceutical distribution industry is also facing many challenges.
The competitive landscape of China's pharmaceutical distribution industry
The gradient development of China's economy has led to the development of different pharmaceutical circulation markets in different regions. From the perspective of the distribution of major regional markets, East China, North China and South China are the three largest regional markets. These three markets are also the three most economically developed regions in China, which consume more than 70% of China's pharmaceutical resources and have some common characteristics: 1) strong consumption capacity, where high-end drug consumption is concentrated; 2) The market operation in these areas is relatively standardized; 3) The number of days of remittance at medical terminals is relatively short, for example, the number of days of remittance of medical institutions in Shanghai is about 60 days, while the number of days in Northeast and Northwest China may be more than 180 days.
In these regional markets, it is inevitable that state-owned enterprises (SOEs) will continue to dominate. For example, East China Medicine, Shanghai Medicine, and Ruikang Medicine in East China, China Resources Medicine and Sinopharm Group in North China, Jointown, Guangzhou Pharmaceutical, and Neptunus Group in Central and South China.
Summary of the competitive status of China's pharmaceutical distribution industry
From the perspective of the five forces competition model, at present, the pharmaceutical circulation industry in mainland China belongs to the pharmaceutical business industry, and the threat of substitutes is small; There are a large number of existing competitors, but the market concentration is continuing to increase; Upstream suppliers are generally pharmaceutical R&D and production-related enterprises, with strong bargaining power, while downstream consumer markets are mainly public hospitals, medical institutions, ordinary consumers, etc., with strong bargaining power; At the same time, due to the strict access qualifications and high financial and technical thresholds in the industry, the threat of potential entrants is relatively moderate.
The scale of the pharmaceutical circulation market is expected to exceed 4 trillion yuan
With the promotion of the two-invoice system and the encouragement of the one-invoice system for drug purchase and sales across the country, the consistency evaluation of generic drugs continues to advance. At the beginning of 2019, the National Health Insurance Administration of the State Council was established, which is fully responsible for the market circulation and final sales price of drugs, and has the right to price, bid and purchase and pay for pharmaceutical and medical device products. Under the circumstance of increasing pressure on the balance of income and expenditure of the medical insurance fund, fee control has become one of the changes faced by the current pharmaceutical industry. The Prospective Industry Research Institute predicts that the overall growth rate of the pharmaceutical circulation industry will decline in 2023, and the industry concentration will be further improved, with a compound growth rate of 7%, and the market size of China's pharmaceutical circulation industry is expected to exceed 4 trillion yuan by 2028.
Yu Qingming, deputy to the National People's Congress, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of Sinopharm Holding Co., Ltd., suggested that efforts should be made to build an open modern pharmaceutical circulation system with resource sharing and efficient coordination. Encourage all kinds of pharmaceutical circulation entities to accelerate innovation and transformation, and develop in the direction of digital, professional and diversified comprehensive services; accelerate the creation of a modern pharmaceutical logistics system covering "channel + hub + network"; in accordance with the requirements of the construction of a unified national market, fully consider the population, economy, geography and other factors, make overall planning and high-quality construction of the national pharmaceutical logistics infrastructure network; cultivate and expand the main body of the modern pharmaceutical logistics market, and focus on supporting the development of a number of pharmaceutical logistics industrial parks. Pilot projects for smart logistics technology innovation, etc., improve urban pharmaceutical distribution facilities and county and rural pharmaceutical logistics distribution systems, and strive to open up the "last mile" of grassroots pharmaceutical equipment supply and pharmaceutical services.
Prospective Economist APP Information Group
For more research and analysis of this industry, please refer to the "Analysis Report on Business Model and Investment Opportunities of China's Pharmaceutical Distribution Industry" by Qianzhan Industry Research Institute
At the same time, the Prospective Industry Research Institute also provides solutions such as industrial big data, industrial research reports, industrial planning, park planning, industrial investment, industrial mapping, smart investment promotion system, industry status certificate, IPO consulting/fundraising and investment feasibility study, and specialized and special new small giant declaration. To quote the content of this article in any public information disclosure such as prospectus and annual report, formal authorization from Qianzhan Industry Research Institute is required.
More in-depth industry analysis is available in the [Prospective Economist APP], and you can also communicate and interact with 500+ economists/senior industry researchers. More enterprise data, enterprise information, and enterprise development are all in the [Qichamao APP], the most cost-effective and most comprehensive enterprise query platform.