Colonel Cao Xuan Thang, Director of Social Security Administration of the Ministry of Defense reported on the management and implementation of social insurance and health insurance in the Ministry of National Defense. With the working motto “Think holistically, work specifically, everything must be done right from the beginning”, social insurance and health insurance work in the army in general and management and organization work in the army. The implementation of the Social Security Administration of the Ministry of Defense in particular in recent years has achieved remarkable results. Notably: Social insurance benefits of officers, professional soldiers, non-commissioned officers, defense workers and contract workers in the army are settled promptly, conveniently and closely. The health insurance policy in the army is comprehensively implemented; In particular, the implementation of the military health insurance policy has created conditions for soldiers to receive better health care and medical examination and treatment, especially for soldiers in remote and isolated units. island border. The social insurance and health insurance funds are managed strictly and in accordance with the law. In particular, the reform of administrative procedures and the application of information technology have been promoted, meeting the increasing requirements of the management and implementation of social insurance and health insurance in the army. Lieutenant General Vu Hai San concluding the meeting. Recognizing and praising the achievements of the Ministry of Defense Social Insurance in recent years, Lieutenant General Vu Hai San emphasized: Based on its functions and tasks, the Ministry of Defense Social Insurance needs to continue to do a good job of consultation. advises and proposes to the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defense to have appropriate instructions on the guidelines and policies of social insurance and health insurance in the army, which are becoming more and more complete in terms of both the legal framework and practical requirements. characteristics of military and defense activities, always aiming for the satisfaction of beneficiaries. Along with well performing political tasks, the Deputy Minister of Defense also noted that the Party Committee and commander of the Ministry of Defense paid attention to building a team of insurance officers with both professional ethics and integrity. professional knowledge; have methods, scientific working style, meet the increasing requirements in the process of performing tasks.

On April 15, the State Administration for Market Regulation announced that it would impose administrative penalties on Yangzijiang Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Yangzijiang Pharmaceutical”) for implementing a monopoly agreement, with a total fine of 764 million yuan.

According to investigations, from 2015 to 2019, Yangtze River Pharmaceuticals reached a fixed agreement with downstream companies such as drug wholesalers and retail pharmacies by signing cooperation agreements, issuing price adjustment letters, and oral notices across the country (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan regions). The agreement on drug resale prices and the minimum resale price of drugs, and measures such as formulating implementation rules, strengthening assessment and supervision, penalizing low-price sales dealers, and entrusting intermediary agencies to monitor online drug prices to ensure the implementation of the agreement.

The State Administration of Market Supervision stated that the above-mentioned actions of Yangtze River Pharmaceutical Group ruled out and restricted competition, harmed the legitimate rights and interests of consumers and the public interest, and violated the relevant provisions of the Anti-Monopoly Law.

It takes pains to limit the price of medicines, and consumers will pay for it in the end

Specifically, Yangzi Pharmaceutical restricts the prices of drugs sold in retail pharmacies and distributors, including many best-selling products such as Lanqin Oral Liquid, Bailemian Capsules, and Astragalus Extract. These drugs are well-known and popular in people’s lives. Measured by sales revenue in 2019, Lanqin Oral Liquid ranked first in throat drugs, Astragalus extract ranked third in tonic drugs, and Bailemian Capsules ranked fourth in stabilized sleep drugs. These best-selling drugs are precisely the focus of Yangzijiang Pharmaceutical’s focus on price-fixing.

In order to supervise the sales staff and distributors to strictly implement the fixed and limited price policy, Yang Zijiang Pharmaceutical has taken great pains. Yang Zijiang Pharmaceutical has formulated a detailed price control system and dispatched sales personnel from various places to pharmacies to inspect and secretly visit drug prices. For drugs on Taobao, Tmall, and JD online platforms, Yangzijiang Pharmaceutical has hired a third-party intermediary company to supervise five key drugs (Lanqin Oral Liquid, Bailemian Capsules, Astragalus Extract, Epalrestat Tablets, Suhuang Cough tablets) online retail prices, and regularly submit online merchants’ price information monitoring and processing results to Yangzijiang Pharmaceutical.

If distributors at all levels, retail pharmacies, etc. do not comply, Yangzijiang Pharmaceutical will implement penalties such as deduction of bonuses, internal fines, out of stock, and suspension of reimbursement. At the same time, distributors and retail pharmacies have a certain degree of dependence on these best-selling products, and they have insufficient bargaining power for the fixed and limited price behavior of Yangzijiang Pharmaceutical.

Yang Zijiang Pharmaceutical’s fixed and limited price behavior seems to be divided from the interests of distributors and pharmacies at all levels, but in fact it raises the price of medicines, and consumers eventually pay for it. The economic analysis takes Shanghai as a sample and simulates the competitive retail prices of some drugs from Yangzijiang Pharmaceutical in 2018 and 2019, and compares them with the actual retail prices and hospital purchase prices in the same period. The results show that this behavior has caused significant drug prices. rise. Statistical analysis shows that the retail channel ex-factory price of Lanqin oral liquid (10ml*6 bottles) from 2015 to 2019 and the average terminal retail price from 2018 to 2020 have shown an upward trend year by year.

However, patients always follow the doctor’s advice or follow the pharmacist’s recommendation when purchasing medicines, so they are not sensitive to the price of medicines and often lose their interests without knowing it.

Anti-monopoly incidents occur frequently in the pharmaceutical field, and national law enforcement and supervision continue to be stricter

Due to the particularity of the pharmaceutical industry, it is difficult to form sufficient market competition from the production and supply of raw materials, the production of pharmaceutical companies and the marketing of pharmaceuticals. A small number of manufacturing companies control the production and supply of APIs. These companies take advantage of market dominance to obtain price dominance, and thus may form a monopoly. At the same time, the current pharmaceutical industry has formed a highly concentrated market pattern, and many pharmaceutical companies secretly manipulate market prices through monopoly agreements, leading to price increases or shortages of drugs.

Fortunately, in recent years, the anti-monopoly law enforcement supervision in the pharmaceutical field has continued to tighten, and news that pharmaceutical companies have been punished due to monopoly has been reported frequently in the industry. In April 2020, the State Administration of Market Supervision imposed administrative penalties on three calcium gluconate API distributors, Shandong Kanghui Pharmaceutical, Weifang Taiyangshen Pharmaceutical, and Weifang Puyunhui Pharmaceutical, for their monopolistic activities, with a total fine of 325.5 million yuan. In January 2021, Simcere Pharmaceutical abused its dominant position in the sales market of China’s Batroxobin concentrate API, and refused to conduct transactions with counterparties without justifiable reasons, ruled out market competition, and was fined 100.7 million yuan. Yuan Renminbi. In April of the same year, Tianyao Co., Ltd. divided the sales market of fluocinolone acetate raw materials in the form of agreement, and changed and fixed the price of fluocinolone acetate raw materials to eliminate competition that restricted the sales of fluocinolone acetate raw materials, and was fined 44,022,600 yuan. .

At the same time, the state has successively introduced a series of measures to strengthen supervision and increase penalties. In 2017, my country issued the “Guidelines for the Price Behavior of Short Drugs and API Operators”, which became the first price monopoly guide for the pharmaceutical industry since the implementation of China’s anti-monopoly law. Subsequently, the “Opinions on Further Doing a Good Job in Maintaining Supply and Stabilizing Prices of Drugs in Shortage”, “Antitrust Guidelines in the Field of APIs (Draft for Solicitation of Comments)”, etc. In January of this year, the China Chemical Pharmaceutical Industry Association (CPIA) released the latest “Regulations for Compliance Management in the Pharmaceutical Industry”, with anti-monopoly being the focus of it.

It is reported that Yangzijiang Pharmaceutical, which was heavily fined this time, is a leading domestic pharmaceutical company. The “2019 China Pharmaceutical Industry Top 100 List” released by the China Pharmaceutical Industry Information Center shows that Yangzijiang Pharmaceutical ranked first in China’s top 100 pharmaceutical industry that year. Has been ranked first for 6 consecutive years. It is foreseeable that heavy penalties for industry leaders will have a huge deterrent effect on industry monopoly behavior.

It is worth mentioning that, according to Jiemian News, Yangtze River Pharmaceuticals previously reported to the court that four companies, Guangzhou Hairui Pharmaceuticals, Hefei Medical Engineering and Pharmaceuticals, Hefei Enruit Pharmaceuticals, and Nanjing Haichen Pharmaceuticals, were suspected of monopoly of APIs. Prosecute. In April 2020, the first instance of the case was concluded, and Yangzijiang Pharmaceutical was awarded nearly 70 million in compensation. And a year later, Yangtze River Pharmaceutical lost more than ten times the money it had earned by suing others for its monopoly because of its own monopoly.