On July 21st, the National Health Commission held a video conference with the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Public Security, National Audit Office, State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, National Medical Insurance Bureau, State Drug Administration, and other departments to deploy a one-year nationwide campaign to combat corruption in the pharmaceutical field. A few days later, the disciplinary committee also released relevant news. The anti-corruption campaign has begun.
According to reports, since the beginning of this year, about 150 hospital presidents and secretaries have been investigated, involving the purchase of drugs, medical devices, etc. Unlike in the past, this anti-corruption campaign will no longer focus solely on "hospital presidents and secretaries," but will also focus on "chairmen and general managers."
So why is there a need for anti-corruption in the pharmaceutical industry?
Let's look at some data first.
In 2022, Shanghai Pharmaceuticals (601607.SH) had sales expenses of 14.279 billion yuan, ranking first among A-share medical companies. Fosun Pharma (600196.SH) ranked second with sales expenses of 9.171 billion yuan, followed by Buchang Pharmaceutical (603858.SH) with sales expenses of 7.484 billion yuan, and Hengrui Pharmaceuticals (600276.SH) with sales expenses of 7.348 billion yuan, ranking fourth. In addition, Huadong Medicine (000963.SZ), BeiGene (688235.SH), Baiyunshan (600332.SH), and others all had sales expenses exceeding 5 billion yuan in 2022.
Why are the sales expenses of domestic healthcare companies so high? On the surface, it is mainly because these pharmaceutical companies use methods such as drug rebates, hospital visits, and academic promotion conferences to promote their products, and these expenses are hidden in the sales expenses. The fundamental reason for this phenomenon is that domestic pharmaceutical companies lack true innovation and core competitiveness in their products, so they can only occupy the market through the transfer of benefits and other related methods.
However, in the long run, high sales expenses not only increase the cost of medical treatment and medication, but also affect the healthy development of the domestic pharmaceutical industry. Therefore, anti-corruption is imperative and imminent.
How high is the sales expense ratio of domestic pharmaceutical companies?
The sales expense ratio refers to the ratio of sales expenses to operating income, which can to some extent reflect the unit sales expenses spent by the company to achieve unit income, or the proportion of sales expenses to operating income.
Next, let's take a look at how high the sales expense ratio of domestic pharmaceutical companies is ...
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