(Yicai) Oct. 27 -- More than 400 pharmaceutical companies will participate in the 11th batch of bidding for the state-organized centralized drug procurement program, the first that will not use the lowest bid as the key metric for price evaluation.

Fifty-five kinds of medicines for the treatment of infections, tumors, allergies, diabetes, and other diseases will be procured in this centralized bidding round that kicked off in Shanghai today, Yicai learned.

Based on application information, an average of 14 firms will bid for each type of drug, with most of them expected to be eligible, an industry insider said. However, it is worth noting that some kinds of medicine are more popular, so they likely attracted more bidders.

The most competitive drug was Diprophylline for injection, which is used to treat bronchitis. It attracted 48 bidders. The market size of diprophylline injection in Chinese hospitals reached CNY650 million (USD91.4 million) last year, according to industry data.

To avoid cutthroat competition and ensure drug quality, this round of bidding no longer used the lowest price as a key metric for evaluation, as participating companies were required to bid prices no lower than the costs.

China’s national drug procurement program was launched in November 2018. Even though it has achieved significant results in lowering drug prices and reducing the burden on patients, it generated a heated debate about price over quality.

Earlier this year, China’s National Healthcare Security Administration launched a special investigation into procured drugs, conducting random quality checks on certain medicines. The NHSA clarified that if any drugs were found to have any quality issues, the manufacturers would be held accountable.

Editor: Futura Costaglione