Draft of the 12th Five-Year Plan for Pharmaceutical Circulation Industry to be Released in the Near Future

The "Economic Information Daily" reporter learned on the 12th that the much-anticipated "2010-2015 National Pharmaceutical Distribution Industry Development Plan" (hereinafter referred to as "Planning") draft has been completed and began to solicit opinions from all parties and will be introduced in the near future. Looking at the content of the draft plan, we encourage drug distribution companies to merge and reorganize, encourage the development of retail chain operations, and foster state-level, prefecture-level leading aircraft carrier companies, which will become the focus of the pharmaceutical circulation sector during the 12th Five-Year Plan period.

At present, in the context of the three pillars of Sinopharm, New Pharmacy, and China Resources, which have formed a domestic pharmaceutical circulation, industry insiders have said that mergers and acquisitions in the field of pharmaceutical distribution or related industries will increase. In addition to the major actions of the central enterprises, local governments have also taken the pharmaceutical industry as a new round of economic focus.

The core of the draft plan is the market allocation of resources

On the 12th, the insider of the Planning Department of the Ministry of Commerce’s Market Order Division disclosed to the reporter of the “Economic Information Daily” that the Ministry of Commerce has formed a plan for the development of the pharmaceutical circulation industry during the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan”. The draft plan has been completed recently Consult relevant ministries and commissions. The opinions of industry associations and enterprises will be announced in the near future.

Niu Zhengqian, vice president of the Chinese Pharmaceutical Management Association, also revealed on the 11th that an interview with the "Economic Information Daily" reporters that the Pharmaceutical Management Association and the Chinese Medicine Business Association are improving specific terms. According to the status quo of the industry, policy support for the merger and reorganization of drug distribution companies will be provided, and raising industry concentration will become one of the key tasks for planning.

According to insiders close to the plan, the overall goal of the plan is to improve the domestic drug supply security system in accordance with the overall guidelines for national medical reform. In the draft plan, the key words are "merger and reorganization", "guide to make bigger and stronger", "smooth transition", and "develop modern logistics." Specifically, it encourages the merger and reorganization of pharmaceutical distribution companies, guides pharmaceutical distribution companies to become bigger and stronger, and nurtures leading aircraft carriers for state-level, city-level and pharmaceutical distribution companies.

In the field of pharmaceutical wholesale, the focus is to accelerate mergers and reorganizations and increase industry concentration. For example, to guide a municipality to focus on cultivating three to four major pharmaceutical wholesalers. After several years of development, the concentration of the industry will increase. In the field of pharmaceutical retailing, emphasis is placed on promoting chain operations and striving to achieve a two-thirds ratio of chain operations during the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” period. In the part of mergers and reorganizations, breaking the regional restrictions and achieving a balanced distribution is also an important content.

In addition, the core of the plan is to allocate resources in a market-oriented manner, relying on the industry itself to promote, rather than relying on the power of the executive. "Therefore, there is no 'government subsidy' in the draft plan, the government will give support, but not through direct subsidies and other administrative measures." The above person pointed out.

At present, the market concentration of China's pharmaceutical distribution industry is much lower than the world average. US pharmaceutical sales account for 40% of the world's pharmaceutical market, but there are only 75 US pharmaceutical wholesalers. Germany's three largest pharmaceutical wholesale companies account for 60% to 70% of the national market share. The data shows that as of the end of 2008, there were more than 13,000 pharmaceutical wholesale companies in China, but the market share of the top three largest companies accounted for only about 20%. Industry analysts pointed out that the current situation of low concentration and low degree of chainization in China's pharmaceutical distribution industry cannot meet the requirements of the reform of the medical and health system and market development. Accelerating mergers and reorganizations and becoming bigger and stronger are the top priorities.