On December 22, Jiao Yahui, Director of the Medical Affairs Department of the National Health Commission, said in an interview in Beijing that the number of severe patients across the country was gradually increasing, and tertiary hospitals should give full play to their role in comprehensive treatment.
The toxicity of Omicron is indeed weaker than the original strain and DELTA, but it is too contagious and has a transmissibility far beyond ordinary influenza. With the support of China's huge population base, it is expected that severe patients will gradually increase. The most important thing now is to strengthen the treatment of severe patients and to prevent more mild patients from turning into severe patients. , especially the latter, is the focus and difficulty of the current epidemic prevention work.
A few days ago, China Pharmaceuticals disclosed an import and distribution agreement with Pfizer Pharmaceuticals for the new coronavirus treatment drug PAXLOVID, which aroused heated public opinion. Little did they know that China Pharmaceuticals had already launched this business as early as March this year and achieved operating income of no more than 404 million in the first three quarters.
China Pharmaceuticals mentioned in a latest announcement disclosed on December 20 that signed a supply agreement with Pfizer on March 9, 2022. will be responsible for the commercial operations of the new coronavirus treatment drug PAXLOVID in the mainland Chinese market during the agreement period. After the expiration of this agreement, Sinopharm renewed a new agreement with Pfizer , extending the operating rights of PAXLOVID until November 30 next year.
How much revenue did China Pharmaceuticals gain from selling PAXLOVID in the nine months from March to November this year? It wasn't explicitly stated in the announcement but we were able to roughly calculate it through the details. The
announcement mentioned that "as of the end of November 2022, preliminary statistics indicate that the sales scale of this business accounted for less than 1.5% of the company's operating income in the first three quarters." China Pharmaceutical's operating income from January to September was 26.92 billion yuan, 1.5% to 404 million yuan. In other words, the revenue from the sale of PAXLOVID for China Pharmaceutical was less than 404 million yuan, and should be between 300 million yuan and 400 million yuan.
Note that revenue does not equal profit.
For example, company A spends 1,000 yuan to import a product and sells it for 1,001 yuan. For company A, its operating income increases by 1,001 yuan, but its gross profit only increases by 1 yuan.
Since China Pharmaceutical’s third quarterly report did not specifically disclose PAXLOVID’s gross profit margin, it is impossible to infer specific profits. Considering that the introduction of PAXLOVID is used as a strategic reserve of medical protective materials, the profit margin will not be too high and will definitely be lower than the average profit margin of China Pharmaceutical's other businesses.
The major shareholder of China Pharmaceuticals is China General Technology . This company has nothing to do with General Motors of the United States. The actual controller behind it is the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council. It is one of the 97 state-owned enterprises. In addition to daily operations, it also assumes social responsibilities. Purchasing Pfizer's new coronavirus treatment drugs in accordance with the instructions of the central government is a manifestation of fulfilling social functions.
From this perspective, the introduction of PAXLOVID is related to national strategy, and capital does not play an important role in it.
Why are some people so disgusted with this matter?
First, the price of medicine is high. The social security purchase price of
PAXLOVID is 2,300 yuan, which is a sky-high price for most Chinese people. Compared with paracetamol which costs 2 yuan for 20 tablets, it is ridiculously expensive.
Of course, Pfizer is also expensive in other regions. According to Red Star Capital Bureau, the purchase price of PAXLOVID in Australia is 1,159 Australian dollars (5,473 yuan), the US government purchase price is 529 US dollars (3,688 yuan), and the European government purchase price is between 600-700 US dollars (4,183-4,880 yuan).
Second, they are hostile to foreign products.
In recent years, the Internet has been filled with an atmosphere of xenophobia. Some people believe that domestic products can already outperform overseas products in all aspects. Confidence is a good thing, but confidence requires sufficient capital, otherwise it is arrogance. The use of Pfizer's PAXLOVID seems to confirm that our pharmaceutical engineering lags behind European and American countries.
In fact, this is a fact and the difference is not a slight difference, and it will not change whether or not Pfizer's new coronavirus treatment drug is used.Among the world's well-known pharmaceutical companies, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, AbbVie, and Merck are from the United States, Roche and Novartis are from Switzerland, AstraZeneca, and GlaxoSmithKline are from the United Kingdom. Our commonly used drugs such as ibuprofen were also invented in European and American countries. We are only making generic drugs.
Fortunately, policymakers understand this truth and introduced PAXLOVID as a reserve drug to prevent a significant increase in the number of severe infections when no effective COVID-19 treatment drug has been produced in China. This is not only a manifestation of being responsible for people's lives and property, but also a reflection of facing up to the gaps that exist in certain aspects.
PAXLOVID is not needed at all for 99% of infected people, but the remaining 1% of infected people may become severely ill. Among them, people with serious underlying diseases may die from it. The huge population base determines that let alone one percent, it is one thousandth or one ten thousandth. When converted into absolute numbers, it can form a large order of magnitude. They need effective treatment drugs. At present, Pfizer's PAXLOVID is the best product in the world.
As the exclusive agent for imports in mainland China, the central enterprise China Pharmaceutical can prevent already expensive drugs from being sold more expensively.
PAXLOVID is not an ordinary cold medicine or antipyretic medicine, but a "special" medicine that is only suitable for a very small number of severely ill patients. It is equivalent to imported medicines for treating various types of cancer. Anyone who has a little knowledge of medicine prices should know how expensive those anti-cancer drugs are. If you are not sure, I recommend you to watch the movie "I am not the God of Medicine" starring Xu Zheng.
In 2012, Cai Yang, who was not living a satisfactory life, took to the street with others with a motorcycle U-shaped lock and smashed the Japanese car on the grounds of "patriotism" and "boycotting Japanese goods" and the owner of the car was severely disabled. Cai Yang was sentenced to ten years in prison. "U-shaped locks" immediately became a buzzword on the Internet, referring to those with low academic qualifications, insufficient knowledge, and unsatisfactory lives who vent their dissatisfaction on their fellow citizens in the name of patriotism. Their biggest characteristics are ignorance and stubbornness, and they are trapped in the shackles of thinking throughout their lives.
After so many years, the number of "U-shaped locks" on the Internet is increasing day by day, and even the country's decisions and behaviors can be questioned as "unpatriotic".
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