CCTV focuses on high drug prices: Some drugs have an intermediate profit of over 6500%

There is a huge difference between the ex-factory price of some commonly used drugs and the retail price of hospitals, and the intermediate profit even exceeds 6500%.

There is no maximum, only higher, some medicine profits exceed 6500%

Whose pockets of medicine are spread in dozens of times?

There is a huge difference between the ex-factory price and the retail price of the hospital in some places. CCTV's Weekly Quality Report once again investigated high drug prices yesterday.

The bid price is tens of times higher

CCTV reporters after a year-long investigation found that some of the commonly used drugs are much higher than the ex-factory price. The reporter randomly selected 20 kinds of commonly used drugs and found that the profits of these drugs from the factory to the hospital exceeded 500%.

A number of people in the pharmaceutical industry have reported that the ultra-high profitability of drugs is not an individual phenomenon in the industry. In an interview, Zhao Lianxi, who is engaged in the pharmaceutical industry, said: "(Drug spreads) are, on average, more than five times average, and twenty to thirty times." Insiders provided a list of some drug product prices, involving hundreds of them. The ex-factory price and hospital retail price of tens of thousands of medicines in pharmaceutical factories. Some of the commonly used drugs used to treat pneumonia, gastritis, and pain relief have an intermediate profit of more than 400% from the factory to the hospital retail.

The two most outrageous drugs were as follows: Tianjin Pharmaceutical Group Xinzheng Co., Ltd. produced a 2 ml 4 mg HBO injection with an ex-factory price of 0.52 yuan each and a bid price of 16 yuan. The retail price of the hospital was 18.4 yuan, and the intermediate profit was more than 3400% (3438%); the specifications produced by Santopia Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. were 2 ml of 20 mg Nefopam hydrochloride injection at an ex-factory price of 0.32 yuan per stick. The price was 18.49 yuan, the retail price of the hospital was 21.26 yuan, and the intermediate profit was as high as 6500%. After being investigated and verified by reporters, the prices provided by the industry were basically true.

Hospital doctors participate in sharing

According to China's current centralized bidding method for drugs, all public medical institutions use drugs that must be purchased at competitive prices, and the price is verified by the local provincial-level drug procurement management office. The price announced in this review is also called the bid price. The bid price is the maximum price for the hospital to purchase drugs, so the establishment of the bid price has become a decisive factor influencing the drug price.

In an interview with reporters, the centralized drug procurement and tendering and bidding management departments across the country are avoiding discussions on how the bid price is set. The reporter contacted the person in charge of a pharmaceutical factory. She disclosed that the bidding and pricing of medicines is not operated by pharmaceutical factories, but rather by a professional pharmaceutical agency. The ex-factory price of a commonly used drug for the treatment of gynecological diseases of this company is 7 yuan, and the bid price is as high as 56 yuan. This process follows the industry's "hidden rules."

The person in charge said: "After bidding, the agency company will earn a certain number of points, how many points the hospital will deduct, how many points will be given to the doctor, and finally how much money the people will have. This is like an industry requirement. ”

According to the person in charge, even though the intermediate profit of this drug exceeds 800%, the drug factory earns about 1 bucks, and the difference of 49 yuan from 7 yuan to 56 yuan is distributed to pharmaceutical representatives and pharmaceutical companies. , hospitals and doctors.

During the investigation, an industry practitioner who has been in the pharmaceutical wholesale industry for more than ten years confirmed the claims of the pharmaceutical company. He said that the pattern of this kind of interest is precisely the "hidden rules" in the process of bidding for drugs.

"Ceiling price" is still high

The drug tendering and bidding management department has not responded to how the formulation price of the drug was formulated, nor did it provide reasonable explanations for the issue of why the winning bid price is more than tens of times higher than the ex-factory price.

It is understood that since 2001, China has fully implemented centralized bidding for drugs. In order to curb the rigorous pricing of drugs, the NDRC has also set a maximum retail price for each drug, requiring that the retail price of the hospital must not be exceeded, which is considered by the industry as a "ceiling price." However, the reporter’s investigation found that even if the bidding price of many drugs is several times or even several times higher than the ex-factory price, the retail price calculated according to such a bidding price is still lower than the highest retail price announced by the NDRC.

Industry experts stated that the purpose of formulating the maximum retail price of drugs is to limit drug prices and prevent drug prices from becoming excessively high. However, the reality is that the maximum retail price of drugs called “ceiling prices” is higher than the ex-factory price. It is ridiculously high. Taking 2 ml of 20 mg Nefopam Hydrochloride injection produced by Shandong Oriental Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. as an example, the ex-factory price is RMB 0.32 per branch and the maximum retail price is set at RMB 35.9. Then, how is the "ceiling price" formulated? The reporter’s multi-party contact with the price authority also did not receive a positive response and became another huge question mark following the bid price.

Experts: The government should release controls

Experts stressed that as long as pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, doctors, and pharmaceutical drug bidding management departments do not change the "hidden rules" of the various links, the drug bid price is difficult to return to a reasonable range. To solve the problem of arbitrarily high drug prices, in addition to rectifying various chaos in drug bidding, drug addition policies should also be adjusted.

It is understood that at present, public hospitals with at least two yuan must purchase drugs according to the bid price, and then purchase drugs and then add 15% to sell to patients. Experts pointed out that the original intention of the drug addition policy was to ensure the hospital's reasonable profit and normal operation, but in the implementation process, it often caused the hospital to favor high-priced drugs, and some cheap and easy-to-use drugs for treating common diseases could not enter the hospital's procurement directory. .

Gu Ke, a professor at Peking University and a research expert in the new medical reform policy, believes that the policy of 15% increase in the price of drugs sold by hospitals should be adjusted as soon as possible. Only in this way can the price of pharmaceutical drugs be fundamentally curbed and patients benefit. For example, he said: "If the government lifts the 15% control and allows the medical institutions to have autonomy, they can go to the market to find cheap channels for purchase." He said that the government has released controls, whether it is patients, health insurance funds or hospitals. Benefit. Author: Wu Ting