Many places to promote the sale of ibuprofen and other split-zero fever-reducing drugs market heat receding

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In the past few days, with the arrival of the peak of new coronavirus infection in many places, the demand for related therapeutic drugs has increased significantly, including ibuprofen and acetaminophen and other antipyretic drugs are in short supply.

In the face of market changes, the reporter learned that many government policies continue to make efforts to protect the supply of products. According to the reporter, including Hubei, Shandong, Zhejiang and other places are increasing the supply of production of ibuprofen and put on the market. In addition, Beijing, Nanjing and other places to implement the antipyretic drug split-zero sales policy.

A number of places to implement the antipyretic drugs to split sales

In the face of the phenomenon that it is difficult to find a box of antipyretic drugs, many places began to implement the “split-zero sales” model.

On December 19, Beijing held the 432nd press conference on the prevention and control of the new crown epidemic, Wang Houting, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Drug Administration, said that the large packages of antipyretic drugs put into pharmacies are strictly required to be split and sold on demand.

Zhuhai Municipal Bureau of Market Supervision decided since December 20, about 500 retail pharmacies in the city continued to supply antipyretic drugs for split-zero sales requirements, the public in designated pharmacies with ID cards offline purchase, the purchase needs to register identity information for inquiries. Among them, the purchase quantity of ibuprofen extended-release capsules, diclofenac sodium extended-release capsules and loxoprofen sodium capsules should not exceed 6 capsules in seven days, and the purchase quantity of ibuprofen suspension should not exceed 1 bottle in seven days. Only one of the above-mentioned varieties can be purchased within seven days, and the retail price is 1 yuan per capsule, and the sales price of ibuprofen suspension (100 ml pack) is 19 yuan per bottle.

In addition, to alleviate the recent difficulties in purchasing antipyretics, Nanjing has continued to put 2 million tablets of antipyretics on the market daily since Dec. 19. 153 retail pharmacies have been selling them in a unified split, with a limit of 6 capsules per customer, with ID cards, which can be purchased with a medical insurance card.

In this regard, Zhao Heng, founder of Latitude Health, a medical strategy consulting firm, told the Securities Daily that the “split sales” refers to consumers buying the drugs according to their dosage, not according to the whole box packaged by the pharmaceutical company. The practice of “splitting sales” is more common in hospitals and less common in pharmacies, which is equivalent to limited purchase. “The course of infection of the new crown is generally three days, according to the amount of three days to buy basically can meet.”

Listed companies continue to expand production to ensure supply

Ibuprofen drug split sales, to a certain extent, also reflects the tightness of the product. The reporter learned that in order to meet the market demand, enterprises involved in the production of ibuprofen have increased their horsepower to start production.

“We are working overtime to produce and actively respond and cooperate with the government and the epidemic prevention department to ensure the supply demand.” Relevant sources from Hengrui Pharmaceuticals told reporters.

News released on the official website of Xinhua Pharmaceuticals shows that the company’s controlling shareholder, Hualu Group, said it will focus on fully supporting Xinhua Pharmaceuticals to expand production capacity to ensure market supply, to ensure that the doubling of production capacity of key drugs such as ibuprofen by the end of December.

On Dec. 19, Teyi Pharmaceutical introduced on the investor interactive platform that according to the “Catalogue of Medicines for People Infected with New Coronavirus (First Edition)”, the company’s acetaminophen tablets, ibuprofen tablets and diclofenac sodium enteric soluble tablets are suitable for fever symptoms, and compound aminophen alkylamine capsules are suitable for fever, runny nose, nasal congestion, sneezing and other cold symptoms. At present, the sales of the above products are good and the company has been producing at full capacity to protect the market demand.

In addition, there are also some enterprises in the existing capacity based on the relevant drugs “commissioned production”.

On the evening of December 18, Shijiazhuang Four Pharmaceuticals Group announced on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that Shijiazhuang Four Pharmaceuticals Limited (Shijiazhuang Four Pharmaceuticals), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Group, signed a letter of intent with a famous domestic pharmaceutical company (the commissioning party) on December 17, 2022. According to the letter of intent, the commissioning party intends to commission Shijiazhuang Four Medicine to produce ibuprofen extended-release tablets and pediatric aminophenol xanthamine granules, commissioned production volume of 1 billion tablets to 2.5 billion tablets per year and 65 million bags per year, respectively. December 19, “Securities Daily” reporter contacted the Shih Four Medicine group of companies, it said to reporters, the company was commissioned to produce the aforementioned products, the company already has the relevant production line, but has not yet put into production.

Can the concept of antipyretic stocks cool down?

With ibuprofen and other antipyretic drugs market demand in the short term rapid growth, related listed companies also caused secondary market pursuit.

For example, Xinhua Pharmaceutical from December 5, 2022 to December 16, 2022, the company’s share price rose 115.8%. However, on December 19, a number of antipyretic drug manufacturers share price “fever”, including Xinhua Pharmaceutical A shares fell slightly by 0.22%, while the Hong Kong share price plunged 12.68%. In addition, a number of A-share antipyretic drug manufacturers share prices have fallen.

In this regard, Jupiter Investment Consulting senior investment adviser Hou Xianping told the “Securities Daily” reporter, with the new crown epidemic prevention and control policy optimization, residents actively purchase drugs triggered by the national pharmacies ibuprofen and other antipyretic drugs in short supply, this situation also triggered the funds for the A-share antipyretic drug concept stocks to pursue. Among them, Xinhua Pharmaceutical and other companies as the domestic ibuprofen API market accounted for a relatively high, directly ushered in the crazy hype.