China’s Record-Breaking 5th VBP Round Achieves Average Price Reductions of 56%

SHANGHAI, China – During China’s 5th round of volume based procurement (VBP) in Shanghai on June 23, 201 manufacturers submitted 355 products, seeking to secure contracts for the 62 drugs covering 451 product specifications up for grabs. In the end, 251 products were chosen from 148 manufacturers, according to procurement results with winning bidders and prices published by Shanghai Sunshine Medical Procurement (SMPAA).

Sixty-one of the 62 products successfully found bidders in the 5th round, with an average price reduction of 56% across the board. Round five was record-breaking. It not only involved the highest number of injectables (29), which accounted for 70% of the total purchase volume of this VBP, but also the highest purchase amount (55 billion yuan)—based on the agreed purchase amount, savings of 25.5 billion yuan are expected each year.

Officials celebrated the inclusion of injectables in this round, as the price reductions – 75% for some antibiotics – will greatly benefit patients, and these savings will be used as “funding ammunition” for public hospitals, according to Yao Yu of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

The drugs that found success during VBP cover a spectrum of product specifications, ranging from hypertension, coronary heart disease, diabetes, and infectious diseases, to chronic illnesses, and even cancer (lung, breast, and colorectal cancers).

During the bidding, the fiercest competition occurred for rivaroxaban, branded as Xarelto by Bayer. As reported by China’s Xinhua news, 20 companies participated in the bidding melee, resulting in a final average price of 0.5 yuan per tablet; the minimum was 0.8 yuan per tablet. In each instance, domestic companies were selected as the winning enterprise.

China’s domestic manufacturers won big in round five, with 240 products selected from 138 manufacturers and the remaining 11 products selected from 10 foreign companies, including Fresenius Kabi, Sanofi, and Teva. While domestic manufacturers found most the greatest success, Chinese officials noted greater participation among foreign companies this time, with 50 companies partaking in the bidding. Sanofi won the bidding for Eloxatin (oxaliplatin) free-dried powder for injection 500 mg 1 bottle/box, at a price of CNY 310.51 per box, and Teva won for alfacalcidol soft capsules 0.25μg 10 grains/plate 2 plates/box, at a price of CNY 20.79 per box.

The previous four rounds of VBP covered a total of 157 varieties, with an average price reduction of 53% across all four. Since the VBP initiative launched in 11 cities (4+7 Tender Trial), VBP has led to annual savings of around 67 billion yuan. Now that round five has wrapped, VBP has so far covered 218 drug varieties, and China will continue to expand the scope of centralized drug procurement, according to the National Medical Security Administration.

The 5^th round covered the following products, in varying formulations (noted in parentheses):

1. Omega-3 fish oil medium/long-chain fat emulsion (injection)
2. Alfacalcidol (capsules, tablet)
3. Aripiprazole (tablets)
4. Acyclovir (tablets)
5. Esomeprazole sodium (injection)
6. Olopatadine hydrochloride (tablets)
7. Oxaliplatin (injection)
8. Benazepril hydrochloride (tablets)
9. Bepotastine besulphonate (tablets)
10. Cisatracurium benzene sulfonate (injection)
11. Bicalutamide (tablets, capsules)
12. Dabigatran etexilate (capsules)
13. Isosorbide mononitrate (capsules, tablets)
14. Decitabine (injection)
15. Iohexol (injection)
16. Iodixanol (injection)
17. Dutasteride (capsules)
18. Docetaxel (injection)
19. Fasudil hydrochloride (injection)
20. Compound ipratropium bromide (solution for inhalation)
21. Glipizide (controlled-release tablets, tablets)
22. Glycopyrrolate (injection)
23. Ganciclovir (injection)
24. Potassium sodium hydrogen citrate (granules)
25. Gemcitabine hydrochloride (injection)
26. Lansoprazole (injection)
27. Lercanidipine hydrochloride (tablets)
28. Rivaroxaban (tablets)
29. Lipoic acid (injection)
30. Ropivacaine hydrochloride (injection)
31. Potassium chloride (sustained release tablets)
32. Metoprolol tartrate (tablets)
33. Miglitol (tablets)
34. Misoprostol (tablets)
35. Palonosetron hydrochloride (injection)
36. Saxagliptin (tablets)
37. Venlafaxine hydrochloride (sustained-release capsules, sustained-release tablets)
38. Cinacalcet hydrochloride (tablets)
39. Thymalfasin (injection)
40. Promethazine hydrochloride (tablets)
41. Ipratropium bromide (solution for inhalation)
42. Fat emulsion amino acid (17) glucose (11%) (injection)
43. Medium/long-chain fat emulsion (injection)
44. Bendamustine hydrochloride (injection)
45. Paclitaxel (injection)
46. Azithromycin (injection)
47. Budesonide (suspension for inhalation)
48. Fluconazole and sodium chloride (injection)
49. Linezolid glucose (injection)
50. Moxifloxacin hydrochloride (eye drops)
51. Tinidazole (tablets)
52. Cefuroxime sodium (injection)
53. Ceftriaxone sodium (injection)
54. Ceftazidime (injection)
55. Cefazolin sodium (injection)
56. Levofloxacin sodium chloride (injection)

Prices in Pricentric are currently being updated to reflect the results of the most recent round of VBP in China.