Diversification Of Multinational Pharmaceutical Enterprises: Business Combination And Strategic Adjustment

"From the earliest product oriented, to the subsequent provision of disease diagnosis and treatment solutions, to build a" patient centred "whole course management platform and innovative medical ecosystem. Recently, Zhu Tong, head of the cardiovascular and metabolic metabolism business in AstraZeneca, told an economic reporter in twenty-first Century that AstraZeneca is constantly adjusting its strategy to develop platform based pharmaceutical companies.

According to the twenty-first Century economic report combing reporter found that in addition to AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Senofi, Novartis pharmaceutical and other related business adjustments. For example, in June 8th, Pfizer issued a notice announcing the restructuring of the Greater China region and splitting the Chinese business team into 3 departments.

At present, the third batch of nationwide volume procurement is about to start, and all parts of the country are doing the procurement of drugs and consumables, which has a huge impact on the entire pharmaceutical industry. Shi Lichen, director of the Beijing Ding Chen medical management consulting center, told the twenty-first Century economic news reporter that the multinational pharmaceutical companies have been watching from the beginning, followed by active participation, and have gone through a process, and then began to adjust their business and strategic adaptation.

From watching war to participating in the war

At the beginning of the implementation of "4+7" procurement, multinational pharmaceutical companies did not participate much. The first batch of "4+7" pilot areas focused on recruitment, involving 13 multinational pharmaceutical companies, but finally only AstraZeneca and Bristol Myers Squibb two companies finalists.

Shi Lichen explained to the twenty-first Century economic report reporter that some multinational pharmaceutical companies began to carry out the pilot purchase with quantity in China because of internal mechanisms and procedures. They responded slowly to China's policies, made slow decisions, and others were on the sidelines, so they were not active in the pilot process.

After seeing the situation that the quantity purchase is already the trend of the times, the raw drug companies that have not been elected have begun to voluntarily reduce their prices. In the second batch of procurement, multinational pharmaceutical companies appear more positive. This collection involves products from various fields, including diabetes, hypertension, antitumor and rare diseases. A total of 122 enterprises are involved in bidding, including 24 foreign-funded enterprises. According to Dr. Zhang Ziran, a senior member of the pharmaceutical industry, there are 100 successful varieties and 5 multinational pharmaceutical companies.

In fact, the impact of quantity purchasing on multinational pharmaceutical companies has emerged. As at the end of April, Sanofi released its first quarter results in 2020, pointing out that in the Chinese market, the price of patent products such as clopidogrel, irbesartan, irbesartan, hydrochlorothiazide and other patent products fell sharply, and the total income of Sanofi in China in the first quarter was 680 million euros, down 14.4 percentage points.

Among them, clopidogrel earned 118 million euros in the first quarter, and Irbesartan / irbesartan hydrochlorothiazide earned 68 million euros, down 53.5% and 32.7% respectively. In addition, as Sanofi's glimepiride did not participate in the purchase price of second wheel size, so in the impact of several other domestic manufacturers, the first quarter of this variety's revenue in China was only 33 million euros, down 13.2%.

Yu Wenxin, chief analyst of Haitong international medicine, pointed out that China has become the second largest pharmaceutical market in the world, and China's market share ranks first in the global market of Bayer in 2019. AstraZeneca made nearly 5 billion dollars in China's revenue and contributed nearly 21% of its global performance. Multinational pharmaceutical companies will gradually learn and adapt to China's rules of the game. Flexible.

"At the current stage of MNC, the proportion of sales of original research drugs has reached 89%, and it is not realistic to turn all product lines to the direction of innovative drugs. Therefore, taking the new drugs to participate in the new tire purchase will still be the focus of the multinational pharmaceutical companies at this stage." Yu Wenxin thinks.

Under the background of China's medical reform, Ernst & Young pointed out that at present, China's market has gone through the patent period as a whole, and the proportion of original research drugs has exceeded 80% or even higher. Multinational pharmaceutical companies accounted for 80% of the total sales volume of original research drugs over the patent period. For multinational pharmaceutical enterprises, the proportion of the original pharmaceutical products was even higher, even more than 90%.

Transnational pharmaceutical enterprises

"Purchasing with quantity is a good thing. The strategy of the state is to put money on innovative drugs. This is one thing that benefits more patients, and it can promote industrial upgrading." Zhu Tong told the economic news reporters in twenty-first Century that this is also the trend of the times. Enterprises should adjust their business direction according to policies.

Wu Xiaoying, a partner in the pharmaceutical industry of Anyang Greater China, looks at the transformation and transformation of R & D innovation, mature drug assets divestiture, marketing mode transformation and "product centered" to "patient centered" transformation.

At present, a number of multinational pharmaceutical companies are actively adjusting their business and strategy under the influence of policies such as quantity purchasing.

Earlier, in March 25th, Novartis China decided to integrate the basic disease department. Specifically, since April 1st, the transplantation team of Novartis metabolism and transplantation Division will become an independent transplant department, focusing on the field of transplanting business expansion and the follow-up of new products, and is currently in charge of Wang Feng, head of the Department of hypertension and hyperlipidemia. The county team of hypertension and hyperlipidemia is transferred to the cardiovascular department. The relevant personnel structure adjustment plan has been announced.

AstraZeneca has also made business adjustments. Since April 1st, AstraZeneca has officially merged cardiovascular and diabetes two treatment fields into cardiovascular and diabetes metabolism business department. Zhu Tong, head of current cardiovascular business department, is the head of new business unit after integration.

Senofi also announced the implementation of the overall responsibility system of the global division in May this year. That is to say, the China regional structure will be consistent with the global architecture, and will reorganize the business of China in accordance with the three core business units of special drugs, general drugs and vaccines, and appoint the corresponding responsible person.

In June 8th, Pfizer announced that the China business team would be divided into 3 departments, namely, hospital sales, retail business, and innovative Internet healthcare services. The heads of the business will report directly to the president of the strong China region.

AstraZeneca has two businesses to integrate, because cardiovascular and metabolic diseases are closely related, such as diabetes drug Anderson, which may be approved for heart failure and even indications of kidney diseases. The integration of cardiovascular and metabolic business is a cooperation of 1+1 greater than 2, and the two teams will have better synergy. AstraZeneca has more than 5000 Chinese cardiovascular and metabolic teams, and is one of the most powerful teams in China. Zhu Tong told reporters on twenty-first Century economic report. Zhu Tong said that although AstraZeneca has been affected by the purchase of quantity, it has expanded its team, which is actually an iterative upgrading of marketing mode.

"In the past, we used drugs to slow down the development of diseases, and even reverse diseases, so as to help patients. But in fact, the common people see a doctor. First of all, he wants to live, and then he has to live long and live well. To achieve this goal, we should not only rely on taking medicine to solve it, but rather need early diagnosis, rely on drug intervention, rely on rehabilitation, and achieve a very good follow-up. This is a complete system. Zhu Tong said that pharmaceutical companies should also provide a complete set of service solutions for patients.

"Objectively speaking, if enterprises rely on only one or two fist products, then the impact of policies on business may be relatively large." Zhu Tong said AstraZeneca is transforming into a platform based pharmaceutical company.

In fact, AstraZeneca is already testing water for upgrading into a "platform based" enterprise. In January 2019, AstraZeneca became the first multinational pharmaceutical company in the field of proprietary Chinese medicine. In March of the same year, he signed a memorandum of strategic cooperation with green leaf pharmaceuticals, and formally announced the strategic cooperation intention to establish the Chinese medicine Xuezhikang Capsule outside China's market. It is understood that since the cooperation between the two sides, Zhixuekang has benefited about 4 million patients, and sales increased by about 40% compared with that before cooperation.

Zhu Tong explained to the twenty-first Century economic report reporter: "Xuekang has been doing clinical research for eight years. It has proved that it is a modern Chinese medicine which is consistent with evidence-based medicine. Its curative effect is clear and its side effects are small. We think it is a good medicine, which is the foundation of cooperation. In the future, as long as we are good to the common people, we will cooperate regardless of Chinese medicine or western medicine. "

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