It’s really magical. In the past three years of the epidemic, the country has been struggling to make money one after another, from masks to nucleic acids to medicines. Recently, antipyretics are "hard to find" and someone took the opportunity to sell a bottle of ibuprofen for a

is really magical. In the past three years since the epidemic, the country has been struggling to make money one after another, from masks to nucleic acids to medicines. Recently, antipyretics are "hard to find", and someone took the opportunity to sell a bottle of ibuprofen for a sky-high price of 3,000 yuan. Many people may not know that my country is the world's largest producer of antipyretics, and ibuprofen is one of the main antipyretics. China's ibuprofen production capacity of Xinhua Pharmaceutical, Hendy Pharmaceuticals, and BASF is 8,000 tons, 3,500 tons, and 3,000 tons respectively, totaling 14,500 tons, which is enough for our 1.4 billion people for 5 years.

So, the question arises, since the production capacity of ibuprofen is so high in , why can’t we still buy it? Speaking of , many people may not understand that production capacity is not equal to output. Production capacity refers to the quantity of raw materials that can process during the planning period, and output refers to the final quantity that can be produced. This means that we have a production capacity of 145 million tons of APIs, but the actual output is not that much.

The first reason comes out, that is, production cannot keep up with demand. Medicines have a shelf life and are generally produced based on quantity. Unless there are special circumstances, the annual demand will not vary much. According to national centralized procurement data, in the past state of , domestic demand for ibuprofen sustained-release tablets was estimated to be less than 500 million tablets.

However, the country now consumes 400 million tablets of ibuprofen a day, which means that one day's demand is almost equal to the production of the past year. This gap is really too big.

The second is that it is not easy to expand production. Would anyone say that ibuprofen is not a very mature drug? There is no technical content. Since there is production capacity, it is enough to increase it immediately. If you look at it this way, you are trying to be simple. Medicines are not masks. There is really no threshold for masks. Just buy some raw materials for melt-blown non-woven fabrics and build a few machines. They can be produced in five days, and any company can do it.

However, there are thresholds for producing drugs in . You must have a drug production license and a drug approval document . This is not possible in the short term, so other laymen cannot make this money even if they want to, so they can only rely on pharmaceutical factories with these two certificates to produce. If

wants to expand its production capacity, there are only two ways. One is to extend the production time of the original production line and operate it by working overtime, but this improvement space is limited. The other is adding new production lines, which is also a problem because there are not enough manpower, and temporary recruitment is not that fast.

Moreover, pharmaceutical companies with these two certificates may not necessarily produce them. data shows that there are 446 valid registration numbers for ibuprofen in 2021, but only 104 are in production. Some people don't understand . Now that we have obtained the document number, why not produce it? There are two main reasons. One is that in the past three years of the epidemic, antipyretics have been under control. It is difficult for ordinary people to buy medicines when they have a fever. They basically have to go to the hospital. Many people find it troublesome, don't take medicine, and get over it as soon as it gets better. Therefore, the demand for antipyretics has actually declined. This has led to many pharmaceutical companies no longer producing products such as ibuprofen.

Another thing is that ibuprofen is not very profitable. , as a mature drug, has a low threshold, fierce competition, and the price is already very transparent. As the world's largest manufacturer of ibuprofen, Xinhua Pharmaceutical's ibuprofen gross profit margin is less than 30%, while Yiling Pharmaceutical's Lianhua Qingwen has a gross profit margin of around 70%. Because it doesn’t make money, many pharmaceutical companies are unwilling to do it.

At present, the surge in market demand for ibuprofen is also "one-time". After a wave of infections, there will be no such big demand. Therefore, these pharmaceutical companies with licenses may not necessarily put into production again. After all, after this wave, what will be done with these new production equipment and personnel?

So, when can we successfully buy ibuprofen?

According to Jiemian News, if things go smoothly, it will take one month to produce 400 tons of raw materials, and then it will take at least 10 days to turn the raw materials into 400 million tablets of ibuprofen. That means it will take at least 40 days to produce the daily demand of 400 million tablets. If you include the circulation process, it is estimated to take 50 days.

Although giants such as Xinhua Pharmaceutical and Hendy Pharmaceutical are working at full capacity to expand production, according to industry insiders, the shortage of antipyretic drugs will not be truly alleviated until after the new year, at least 2 to 3 months. In other words, it may take until the New Year to successfully purchase antipyretics, and the shortage will continue for some time.

Therefore, for us ordinary people, we must not hoard medicine. Once infected, we only need a few antipyretics. If you have extra, you can give it to other people in need. The peak of returning home is coming soon, but antipyretics are still in short supply in rural areas. Therefore, show your love and help your relatives and friends.