Recently, it has been reported by the Chinese National Medical Products Administration that several well-known imported drugs are bidding farewell to the Chinese market, with multiple “star” medications being deregistered, sparking widespread attention and discussion. Netizens point out that the pricing pressure from the national centralized drug procurement system has driven original research drugs out, allowing generic drugs and expensive traditional Chinese medicines to enter the system, leading to a noticeable decline in treatment effectiveness.
On the evening of October 15th, the official public account of the National Medical Products Administration revealed the deregistration of the registration certificates of 80 drugs, including Feckar Haway’s Loratadine tablets, implying these drugs will cease production and sales activities in the future. Among these 80 drugs, over half are products of foreign companies.
According to the specific list published by the National Medical Products Administration, the deregistration of these 80 drugs was all done through “application for deregistration.”
Journalists from Interface News noticed that among these 80 drugs, there is a series of products from foreign pharmaceutical companies or Sino-foreign joint ventures. Rough estimations based on the number of registration certificates show that over 55% of the products deregistered this time belong to foreign companies, while the remainder are from domestic companies.
The deregistration list includes some medications used in the field of tumor treatment with larger commercial scales, such as the injection of Dobisium chloride. According to the list, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals (Wuxi) Co., Ltd.’s injection of Dobisium chloride (National Drug Approval H20013334) has opted for deregistration.
In the booming GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide-1) field, there have been participants exiting. Sanofi has deregistered multiple doses of Liraglutide injections. This product belongs to Sanofi’s GLP-1 agonist class of antidiabetic drugs.
The report mentions that the deregistration of some rare disease drugs once again confirms the impact of pharmaceutical commercialization on their fate. The globally unique drug for the treatment of Mucopolysaccharidosis type IVA, Vimizim, was launched in China in 2019. However, its imported drug registration certificate expired on May 20, 2024, and BioMarin will no longer renew the certification for this product. According to the current announcement, BioMarin has deregistered this product.
In recent years, as policies like national centralized drug procurement and national drug negotiations continue to progress, local companies have been developing rapidly, posing challenges to the development strategies of multinational pharmaceutical companies in China. Among them, the fate of some well-known imported drugs often attracts attention.
The withdrawal of a large number of imported drugs from the Chinese market, which is closely related to public health, has sparked discussions on social media. While people are concerned about the effectiveness of domestic drugs, they also criticize the drawbacks of the drug acquisition system severely.
A prominent Weibo user mentioned, “Let me give you an example, my aunt used to take original hypertension drugs, Benapril and Nifedipine. Previously, she was prescribed the original drugs, but now the insurance does not cover them anymore. She switched to generic drugs provided by insurance, and the blood pressure control is not as good as before, fluctuating significantly, and her overall blood pressure level is noticeably higher. I insisted she continues with the original drugs even if she has to pay out of pocket. At least, besides using insurance-covered cheap generic and expensive traditional Chinese medicines, people should always have the option to buy original drugs in the market.”
Commenters shared their experiences as well, “When my family visited the hospital, we couldn’t get Losartan prescribed, and the doctor said there’s still a gap in the effectiveness of generic drugs. If financially feasible, they suggest purchasing Losartan from outside on your own.” “My friend’s life was saved by imported chemotherapy drugs.” “I had allergic conjunctivitis at a tertiary eye hospital last year, and I wanted the original eye drops. The head physician refused and prescribed a generic one, saying, ‘If the effect isn’t good, you can buy the original drug from the pharmacy.'”
“Some specific drugs my child took are now not just excluded from insurance but directly exiting the Chinese market.” “What’s most concerning is that when the market cannot sustain production, exiting becomes inevitable.”
Some netizens pointed out that the inclusion of expensive traditional Chinese medicines in insurance poses challenges, “Original drugs are being driven out, and a large number of expensive traditional Chinese medicines are being included in insurance.” “You say original drugs are expensive, and I understand that ordinary people cannot afford them, but traditional Chinese medicines are not cheap either, and many of them are used up quickly. As for efficacy? I think they are more of a placebo.”
Some users directly criticized the unreasonable official acquisition system, saying, “If it’s not included in insurance, the sales volume will be very low, and the profit will almost disappear. The main issue is the intense pressure from the insurance’s centralized procurement system.” “Personally, I think the current procurement system overly emphasizes winning bids at low prices. The subsequent supervision has not kept pace, resulting in generic drugs winning bids, which are significantly inferior to the original drugs. I suggest that prices should not be based solely on the lowest bid but consider the industry’s average price, with appropriate reductions. At the same time, the winning manufacturers should not be limited to just one, but several should be provided as alternatives.” “Bad money will drive out good money!”