The weather is getting colder, and the flu vaccine is in full swing. Recently, the Red Star Capital Bureau noticed that the price of influenza vaccines on the market has dropped a lot this year.

Red Star Capital Bureau inquired and called vaccination sites in different regions and learned that compared with last year, the price of influenza vaccine this year has generally decreased. Among them, the price of quadrivalent influenza virus split vaccine (adult) produced by some manufacturers is the most obvious, with the price per shot dropping by about 40 yuan.

Behind the decline in the price of the vaccination end, the Red Star Capital Bureau noticed that influenza vaccine manufacturers are involved in a "price war". In just one month, the price of trivalent influenza vaccine fell from below the 10 yuan mark to 6.5 yuan, a record low, almost equivalent to the price of a cup of Mixue Bingcheng milk tea.

On October 22, Tao Lina, the former chief physician of the Immunization Planning Department of the Shanghai Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told the Red Star Capital Bureau that the influenza vaccine market is fiercely competitive, and there is no gap between products in terms of quality, so they can only seize the market by reducing prices.

Flu season vaccine prices have been slashed

Ms. Wu (not her real name), from Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, gets a flu shot for herself and her family every year. In early October this year, when she went to a community health center near her home to get a flu vaccine, she found that the quadrivalent influenza virus split vaccine (adult) from the same manufacturer cost more than 140 yuan last year, and this year it dropped to 108 yuan.

The price of quadrivalent influenza virus split vaccine has decreased

Not only Ms. Wu, the Red Star Capital Bureau found that netizens from all over the world posted information about flu vaccination on social platforms, and "price reduction" has become the keyword of this year.

Red Star Capital Bureau learned through the "Appointment Vaccination" platform and calling multiple vaccination sites in different regions that compared with last year, the price of influenza vaccine this year has generally decreased, among which the price reduction of quadrivalent influenza vaccine is the most obvious.

On October 22, a staff member of a community service center in Xujiahui Street, Shanghai, told the Red Star Capital Bureau that the price of the quadrivalent influenza vaccine has indeed been reduced this year, and Shanghai Biotech and Hualan Vaccine (301207. SZ) has dropped from 135 yuan per shot last year to 95 yuan per shot (no vaccination service fee). A staff member at Beijing United Family Hospital also mentioned that the price of some quadrivalent flu vaccines was around 150 yuan per shot last year, but this year it has dropped to 113 yuan per shot.

The price reduction may be related to the unified price reduction of manufacturers. In August this year, the official Weibo of Sichuan Provincial Construction Hospital mentioned that "this year, influenza vaccine manufacturers have uniformly reduced the bidding and procurement prices across the country, hoping to benefit more people." ”

Screenshot from Sichuan Provincial Construction Hospital's official WeChat

Manufacturers are embroiled in a "price war".

Red Star Capital Bureau noticed that behind the decline in the price of the vaccination end, influenza vaccine manufacturers are involved in a "price war", and there is even an intensifying momentum.

On September 5, the Zhejiang Provincial Public Resources Trading Service Platform issued the "Announcement on the Winning (Transaction) Results of the 2024 Mass Vaccination Influenza Vaccine (Provincial) Project of Zhejiang Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention", which showed that the winning bidder was Shanghai Institute of Biological Products Co., Ltd., with a winning bid price of 10.857 million yuan and a winning bid of 1.155 million pieces, equivalent to the price of a single trivalent influenza vaccine of 9.4 yuan. This is the first time that the unit price of the publicly-funded trivalent influenza vaccine has fallen to single digits.

On October 16, the Shenzhen government procurement website announced the winning bid results of the Shenzhen Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention for the procurement of trivalent influenza vaccine for primary and secondary school students in 2024. It is worth mentioning that the price of Fosun Yalifeng, one of the bidding companies, has been as low as 6.5 yuan per branch, the lowest price in history.

In just one month, the price of trivalent influenza vaccine fell from below the 10 yuan mark to 6.5 yuan, a record low. Some voices in the industry say that this price is close to a cup of honey snow ice city.

On October 22, the Red Star Capital Bureau called the above two companies to inquire about the reason for the quotation, etc., but has not been contacted as of press time.

Screenshot from Shenzhen Government Procurement Network

The

price reduction of publicly-funded influenza vaccine has become a trend, not only trivalent influenza vaccine, but also quadrivalent influenza vaccine, which has a higher unit price, and its price has also fallen rapidly this year.

In May this year, the Jiangsu Provincial Public Resources Trading Center issued the "Notice on Adjusting the Supply Price of Some Vaccines", and the winning bid price of the quadrivalent influenza virus split vaccine of the Changchun Institute, Wuhan Institute and Shanghai Institute under Sinopharm Group was reduced from the original 128 yuan/piece to 88 yuan/piece, which started the "first shot" of the price war of quadrivalent influenza vaccine. Previously, the supply price of quadrivalent influenza vaccine has been higher than 100 yuan.

In less than half a year, the price of publicly-funded quadrivalent influenza vaccine has dropped further. On October 19, according to the announcement of the Chinese government procurement network, the bidding results of the influenza vaccine for medical staff of the Institute of Immunization Program of the Wuhan Center for Disease Control and Prevention showed that the quadrivalent influenza virus split vaccine (0.5ml per tube, 0.5ml per human dose, containing 15μg of hemagglutinin of various types of influenza virus strains) of Wuhan Institute of Biological Products Co., Ltd. won the bid, equivalent to a unit price of 38 yuan per piece.

Expert: There are too many suppliers and the competition is fierce

Why is the price of publicly-funded flu vaccine getting lower and lower? On October 22, Tao Lina, the former chief physician of the Immunization Planning Department of the Shanghai Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told the Red Star Capital Bureau that on the one hand, the scope of free influenza vaccination is expanding, and the amount of government procurement is increasing; On the other hand, the influenza vaccine market is highly competitive, and there is no gap between products in terms of quality, so they can only seize the market by reducing prices.

Tao Lina also mentioned that the quality gap can be widened, for example, the price of subunit 4-valent vaccine and nasal spray vaccine has not been reduced, and the price reduction is all split vaccines, "The split vaccine is because of serious homogeneity, too many suppliers, and fierce competition." ”

According to public information, the domestic influenza vaccine companies include Hualan Vaccine, Baike Biology (688276. SH), Zhifei Biotech (300122. SZ), Jindike (688670. SH), Kangtai Biotechnology (300601. SZ), Tiantan Biology (600161. SH), Peisen Biotech, Sinovac Biotech (SVA.US) and other nearly 20 companies, and even traditional Chinese medicine company Buchang Pharmaceutical (603858.SH) also announced their entry. In 2023, a total of 12 domestic companies will be issued influenza vaccines.

Some industry insiders said that as more and more quadrivalent influenza vaccines are approved for marketing, price reductions may grab more market share.

As early as the middle of this year, flu vaccine manufacturers set off a round of "price war". After Sinopharm fired the "first shot" of the quadrivalent influenza vaccine price war, on June 4, Hualan Vaccine announced a price reduction for quadrivalent influenza vaccine products, and said that the price reduction was aimed at improving the accessibility of influenza vaccine and enhancing the market competitiveness and market share of the company's products. Subsequently, Beijing Sinovac and Jindike also followed up to reduce the price of influenza vaccines.

(Original title: "The price of influenza vaccine has plummeted, cheaper than a cup of honey snow ice city, and the manufacturers behind it are involved in the "price war").