[Love Comment] Pan Guangcheng： Starting from Dying to Survive

　　Beijing, January 4 (Xinhua) According to the Voice of Economics "Chaoguang Finance Review", the Voice of Economics presented "Love Review: A Dialogue of 100 People in the New Era" in this issue: Chen Aihai, Chief Commentator of the Voice of Economics, talked with Pan Guangcheng, Executive President of China Chemical Pharmaceutical Industry Association.

Chen Aihai (right), Chief Commentator of Economic Voice, talks with Pan Guangcheng (left), Executive President of China Chemical Pharmaceutical Industry Association.

　　Pan Guangcheng, Executive President of China Chemical Pharmaceutical Industry Association. He used to be the director of the Policy Planning Department of the former State Administration of Medicine, the deputy general manager of China Medical Device Industry Company, and the secretary of the board of directors of China Pharmaceutical Group Corporation.

　　The quality and accessibility of drugs in China need to be greatly improved.

　　Chen Aihai: A movie called Dying to Survive, which was released a few months ago, almost attracted the attention of the whole people. Obviously, it attracted people’s attention because it hit the pain point in many people’s hearts. Therefore, I think it is very meaningful for us to have this dialogue today to talk about the past, present and future of the pharmaceutical industry. Since the reform and opening up, in a nutshell, what important reforms have our country’s pharmaceutical industry experienced and what major achievements have it achieved?

　　Pan Guangcheng: The film Dying to Survive shows that the quality and accessibility of medicines in China need to be greatly improved. Looking at it now, the government attaches great importance to it, especially the zero tariff on some anticancer drugs. Over the past 40 years, China’s pharmaceutical industry has made great progress. In terms of reform, we have experienced the classified management of prescription drugs and over-the-counter drugs, the good manufacturing practice and the licensed pharmacist system. Another is to carry out the consistent evaluation of the quality and efficacy of generic drugs, and implement the basic drug system and so on. These reforms and measures have played an important role in the development of medicine in China. According to the data, in 1978, the output value of China’s pharmaceutical industry was only 7 billion yuan. However, after 40 years of development, by 2017, the sales of the whole medicine reached 2.98 trillion yuan, a considerable increase. On the other hand, our operating profit reached 351.9 billion yuan, and export delivery value reached 202.3 billion yuan, which is also a relatively fast growth rate.

　　The pharmaceutical industry must take patients as the center.

　　Chen Aihai: The consistency evaluation of generic drugs is a very important reform. Our country is a big country of generic drugs. Some people say that the conformity evaluation of generic drugs is a remedial course and an innovation for our country, because only by improving the quality of generic drugs can we eliminate backward production capacity, improve the competitiveness of generic drugs, and realize the substitution of original drugs in clinic. In this way, the total cost of medicine can be reduced, because the original new drugs, that is, the original research drugs, are very expensive, and the safety of people’s medication can be guaranteed. What do you think of this statement?

　　Pan Guangcheng: From the characteristics of all drugs, one is safe, the second is effective, the third is accessible, and the fourth is controllable quality. China is a big country of generic drugs, more than 90% of which are generic drugs. Therefore, it is very important to evaluate the consistency of quality and efficacy of generic drugs for improving the quality of drugs, and it is also very important for improving the scientific and sexual significance of drugs.

　　Through the consistency evaluation of generic drugs, for our common people, one is to improve the quality awareness of the whole industry and let the common people eat safe drugs, which is the social responsibility of pharmaceutical enterprises; The second is to promote the transformation and upgrading of our industry, encourage the advanced and eliminate the backward; The third is to improve the quality of generic drugs, enhance brand reputation and reputation, increase exports and enter the international market. All the starting point and foothold of the pharmaceutical industry are patients, that is, to meet the needs of patients.　　

　　The so-called accessibility means that I can meet the supply of drugs that the people need, mainly in terms of ensuring supply. The premise is that one is safe, the other is effective, and the other is to meet his needs, which is the basic feature of our pharmaceutical industry.

　　Chen Aihai: According to public information, about 95% of the chemicals produced in China are generic drugs. Some people say that although generic drugs can make us "eat medicine", it does not mean that we can "eat good medicine". Is this the truth? If so, what else can our pharmaceutical industry do?

　　Pan Guangcheng: This statement is not entirely correct. From the point of generic drugs, especially after the financial crisis in 2008, including developed countries, a large number of generic drugs are now used, and the quality and efficacy of key generic drugs must be relatively high, so as to meet his needs. When generic drugs are ready, patients can also "eat good drugs". From the second point of view, we should carry out quality monitoring in all aspects of design, research and development, production and circulation to ensure the quality of drugs, so that ordinary people can eat safe drugs; Third, it is necessary to re-evaluate the safety of drugs after listing, so that the quality of drugs can be steadily improved. Re-evaluation after listing is very important. If there is a problem, we should improve it in time, so that the people can always take the rest assured drugs during the whole cycle.

　　Chen Aihai: Look at the original drug. Some people want to take the original drug because they think it is effective, but the original drug is very expensive, so some critically ill patients often have to be prepared to lose everything in order to use the original drug. This kind of story is not uncommon in movies, TV series, novels and even in real life. From the current pharmaceutical industry in China, are there any solutions or ideas for this problem?

　　Pan Guangcheng: The state attaches great importance to this issue and has taken a series of measures. One is to speed up the imitation of patented drugs and original research drugs after they expire. Second, actively negotiate the price, and reduce the price of the original drug through the price negotiation of medical insurance. The third is to expand the import of anticancer drugs and adopt the policy of zero tariff. This is not only good for these anticancer drugs, but also for the original drugs, which really plays an important role in meeting the supply.

　　China pharmaceutical industry from big to strong only innovation.

　　Chen Aihai: At present, what are the innovative needs of our pharmaceutical industry in China, and what are the successful innovative cases?

　　Pan Guangcheng: Tu Youyou won the Nobel Prize as the representative, which proves that our medical innovation in China has been basically recognized internationally. During the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" period, we also have a number of innovative enterprises’ first-class new drugs, which have been approved by the state, including Apatinib from Hengrui Pharma, Ektinib from Beida Pharmaceutical, chidamide from Microchip, and Compaxip from Kanghong Pharmaceutical. Represented by these, it proves that our medical innovation in China has entered a new stage.

　　Chen Aihai: What are the larger pharmaceutical companies in China?

　　Pan Guangcheng: Overall, our scale was 2.98 trillion yuan last year. China pharmaceutical industry consists of four parts: the first category is chemical drugs accounting for 50%, including raw materials and preparations of chemical drugs accounting for 50%; The second category is Chinese medicine, including Chinese herbal pieces and Chinese patent medicines, accounting for 30%; Another is biological drugs, including vaccines and blood products, accounting for 10%; The fourth category is medical devices, including medical equipment and sanitary materials, accounting for 10%. This constitutes the entire pharmaceutical industry in China. In addition, at present, our relatively large-scale enterprises, such as China Pharmaceutical Group, have sales of more than 350 billion yuan last year, both industrial and commercial, ranking 194th among the top 500 companies in the world and 25th among the top 500 companies in China. Besides China Pharmaceutical Group, there are also China Resources Pharmaceutical Group and Shanghai Pharmaceutical Group, which are relatively large. For a single industrial enterprise, like Yangzijiang Pharmaceutical, its sales last year were over 70 billion yuan. There are North China Pharmaceutical, Shijiazhuang Pharmaceutical, etc. The top 100 enterprises can account for about 50% of the total pharmaceutical output value, but the industrial concentration needs to be further improved.

　　Chen Aihai: Why should we further improve industrial concentration?

　　Pan Guangcheng: Because there are nearly 5,000 pharmaceutical enterprises in our country now, the problems are still "small", "scattered" and "chaotic". Only after increasing the concentration can we improve our competitiveness and participate in international competition. Now, we need to reorganize together in this respect, and our enterprises need to further expand their scale.

　　Chen Aihai: What other aspects of China’s pharmaceutical industry need to be strengthened?

　　Pan Guangcheng: China is a big pharmaceutical country, but it is not a strong pharmaceutical country. From big to strong, there is only innovation. Innovation and compliance will be the main theme of the development of China medicine in the future. From this point of view, the first is to implement innovation drive and promote scientific development. The second is to ensure the quality of drugs and keep the moral bottom line. The third is to strengthen credit construction and comply with production and operation. The fourth is to carry out drug traceability, so that the whereabouts can be traced. The fifth is to strengthen environmental protection and adhere to green development. The sixth is to strengthen international exchanges and make the industry bigger and stronger. I think through the unremitting efforts of our pharmaceutical industry, China will realize the transformation from a big pharmaceutical country to a powerful pharmaceutical country, and this day will surely come at an early date.