(Yicai Global) June 24 -- Eleven products from 10 foreign drugmakers were included in the latest round of China’s centralized drug procurement scheme, which are included in the country’s vast medicine insurance program , as opposed to only two to three overseas firms in previous rounds.

More foreign pharmaceutical companies participated in the fifth round, indicating rising recognition among global drugmakers of the centralized procurement program, which aims to cut the cost of generic and patented medicines and apparatus through economy-of-scale buying, Gong Bo, head of Shanghai Healthcare Security Bureau's division of medical price, tender and procurement, told Yicai Global.

Being selected in the bulk buy program gives drug firms a stable market for several years, even if the medicines are offered at a substantial discount, he added.

German’s B. Braun Melsungen had two drugs selected. One of them won the bidding at a price of CNY113.91 (USD17.6), a 71 percent reduction on the market price of CNY400.

"This is our second participation," company executive Liu Jie told Yicai Global. "We took part last time but failed to win a bid. This time we took it more seriously. We are good at controlling production costs, and we have the strength to support our participation in the centralized purchase project," he added.

Two factors have caused a shift in foreign drugmakers' China strategy, said Yao Yu, professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. First is the huge pressure from Chinese generic drugs. Second is their market share in China will be squeezed further if they don't use their best products to participate in the centralized drug procurement program, which offers huge potential to penetrate the Chinese market.

In the future, foreign drugmakers may also bring their innovative drugs to the bulk buy scheme to introduce these medicine to the Chinese market sooner, said Gu Hai, the director at Nanjing University's Health Policy and Management Research Center.

Some 251 types of drugs from 148 firms were selected in the fifth round of centralized drug procurement at an average discount of 56 percent below their market price. There were 201 bidders, the most ever, involving the greatest number of medicines and the highest market value of CNY55 billion (USD8.5 billion) since the launch of the bulk buy program in 2018.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor