China Announces Price Cuts, Hitting Astrazeneca, Pfizer, and Novartis’s Profits

China’s latest round of price cuts dinged profits of many major pharma companies, especially Astrazeneca, Pfizer, and Novartis. The companies were undercut by cheaper generics who, on average, shaved almost half of their cost to win contracts with public care providers. Over 200 companies participated in the bidding, covering 60 drugs in the process.

According to , “Lenvima generics won tenders by lowering the drug’s average per-pill price from 108 Chinese yuan ($16.1) to 18 Chinese yuan ($2.7), according to People’s Daily. That means about 8,100 yuan in savings per treatment cycle. Based on 2021 sales numbers, drugs included in the latest volume-based procurement (VBP) scheme cover a market of over 30 billion yuan ($4.5 billion) via public hospital channels, state-run CCTV reports.”

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(Source: Fierce Pharma, July 12th, 2022)