After being fired, I became the light of medicine

Chapter 31 Pharmaceutical Sales Company

There are many patients as disappointed as Song Yang.

They had waited with great anticipation for the domestically produced "Eltrombopag" to be launched on the market, but were disappointed by the final price.

But their disappointment can't save anything. Is it too expensive?

Eat as much as you like!

The price difference of 300 yuan has crushed the dignity of many patients, and reality has already made their choice.

Although there are still some patients complaining, their dissatisfaction and complaints cannot even cause a ripple.

Beifeng Pharmaceutical's generic version of "Eltrombopag" was successfully rolled out in major hospitals and pharmacies across the country.
The first batch of subjects in the Phase III clinical trial of "Qingshan Avatrombopag" also successfully completed the three-month clinical trial.

The good news is that after expanding the patient base in Phase III clinical trials, the treatment effect remains basically the same as in Phase II clinical trials.

Not only does the drug response rate remain above 65%, the platelet-enhancing effect remains very significant, and there are no unknown side effects due to the expansion of the patient base.

Another good news is that because it took only 46 days to recruit patients for the Phase III clinical trial, it means that in just 46 days, the 700 clinical data of the Phase III clinical trial of "Qingshan Avatrombopag Tablets" will be fully released. At that time, the data can be submitted immediately to apply for approval of the clinical trial!

Zhang Yang was very confident that he could successfully pass the Phase III clinical trial, and immediately began to focus on drug production.

Unlike other common commodities, due to their special nature, even if they have passed clinical trials, if they really want to be produced, they still have to obtain a “production license” from the State Food and Drug Administration.

Simply put, after a pharmaceutical company applies to produce a drug, the State Food and Drug Administration will send a team of experts to the production workshop to conduct a comprehensive review.

The first is to see whether the production qualifications and factory environment meet the production requirements of the drug; the second is to see whether the production technology and processes can ensure the quality stability and safety of the drug.

At present, Qingshan Pharmaceutical does not have its own pharmaceutical production workshop. Fortunately, Zhou Hai, one of the persons in charge of the "He Miao Project" of the Innovative Drug Support Center, mentioned this matter before.

Zhang Yang was not polite and contacted Zhou Hai directly hoping that he could help contact a pharmaceutical company that is qualified to produce "Qingshan Avatrombopag".

Zhou Hai was very efficient. About a week after receiving the call, he contacted a pharmaceutical company called Lotus Pharmaceuticals, also located in Chengdu.

Although the OEM price proposed by the other party was a bit expensive, Zhang Yang finally reached an OEM agreement with Lotus Pharmaceuticals.

Zhang Yang handed over the following details to Liu Fei, who had just been fired from Beifeng Pharmaceutical. His work focus then shifted to another task, which was also the last thing before the drug was put on the market.

That is – signing a contract with a suitable pharmaceutical sales company.

Contrary to what many people think, in China, pharmaceutical companies are not allowed to sell drugs directly to patients, even if they produce them themselves!

The normal process is that pharmaceutical companies sell drugs to pharmaceutical sales companies, which then sell the drugs to hospitals, pharmacies and even individuals through various channels.

The purpose of this arrangement is to allow pharmaceutical companies to focus more on drug research and development, leaving all sales to pharmaceutical sales companies;
Secondly, it is also to better supervise each box of medicine and achieve closed-loop tracking and traceability of the medicines.

Now, before "Qingshan Avatrombopag" goes on the market, Zhang Yang must also make his own choice and choose a pharmaceutical sales company to cooperate with.

In the office, Ren Xiaomin gently placed the prepared documents on the desk.

"Zhang Yang, several large pharmaceutical sales companies have contacted me recently. They are very interested in our 'Qingshan Avatrombopag'."

"I have selected two of them for you. They have in-depth cooperation with many tertiary hospitals across the country and have rich hospital connections... Overall, I think they are pretty good. You can focus on them."

Zhang Yang nodded, then picked up the document and quickly flipped through it.

He read very quickly, finishing the 20-plus pages of information in just a few minutes. He seemed to have little interest and was just doing it in a perfunctory manner.

Ren Xiaomin, who was standing by, also noticed Zhang Yang's absent-mindedness. This was the first time he had seen Zhang Yang in this state, and he was immediately a little surprised:
"What's wrong? Zhang Yang."

"Brother Ren, do you think it is necessary for us to set up our own pharmaceutical sales company?"

"Ah?! Set up your own pharmaceutical sales company?" The sudden words surprised Ren Xiaomin. He had no idea why Zhang Yang suddenly came up with this idea.

Of course, there are indeed very few pharmaceutical companies in the country that have established their own pharmaceutical companies.

However, even for those large pharmaceutical companies, the scale of their own pharmaceutical sales companies is actually not very large.

The reason is very simple. The biggest core competitiveness of a pharmaceutical sales company is not how good the drugs are, but the sufficient network resources in the hospital.

If a new drug wants to enter the hospital, it must first find the director of the corresponding department. After taking care of the department director, the department director will give a "temporary purchase" note to the pharmacy department.

At this time, the pharmaceutical company needs to smooth the relationship with the pharmacy department. Only with the approval of the pharmacy department can the drugs actually enter the hospital. This is the so-called "hospital admission fee."

Therefore, pharmaceutical companies and pharmaceutical sales companies actually belong to two completely different tracks. For Qingshan Pharmaceutical, setting up a pharmaceutical sales company really does not make much sense, and it may even be counterproductive.

Ren Xiaomin shook his head and advised:

"Zhang Yang, although the conditions for establishing a pharmaceutical sales company have been relaxed, if you really want to obtain a pharmaceutical sales license, you still have to build a complete internal quality control system and find a suitable warehouse and site. This requires hiring professional personnel and investing a lot of money."

"Of course, leaving aside these rigid conditions, we currently only have one drug, Qingshan Avatrombopag Tablets. If we set up a pharmaceutical sales company just for this drug, it would be an overreaction and not worth the effort."

Zhang Yang nodded slightly. He was of course aware of these disadvantages, and that was why he had been hesitating and weighing the pros and cons.

Why are domestic medicines generally expensive?
the reason is simple,
Pharmaceutical sales companies need to make money, pharmaceutical representatives need to make money, regional distributors, and pharmacies in every channel need to make money!
As a result, even if the pharmaceutical company's factory price is very cheap, the final retail price will increase by 2-3 times.

He could still accept the price increase of common medicines, but after going through so many things and meeting so many patients who couldn't afford their medicines, he didn't want his life-saving medicines to become so expensive that ordinary patients couldn't afford them.

He is not a saint, but instead of letting pharmaceutical companies make a fortune, he would rather give the profits to real patients.

And most importantly, he knows better than Ren Xiaomin that Qingshan Pharmaceutical will have more than one drug in the future!
At present, "Qingshan Avatrombopag Tablets" are okay, but if "ITG human recombinant ovarian fibroblast growth factor" that can completely cure aplastic anemia is on the market, he doesn't know to what extent the pharmaceutical sales company will raise the price!
and so!
Sales channels must still be in your own hands!

Thinking of this, Zhang Yang already had the answer in his mind. He gently pushed away the documents on the table and looked at Ren Xiaomin.

"Brother Ren, I've thought about it. Just do it according to my idea and set up a Qingshan Pharmaceutical Sales Company!"

"We don't need to sell other companies' drugs, we just need to sell our own drugs!"

"I'll trouble you with the specific procedures. If you have any difficulties..."

Speaking of this, Zhang Yang thought of Zhou Hai from the "Innovative Drug Support Center".

"If you have any trouble, please contact Zhou Hai. They have taken so much of our profits, it's time for them to do something about it!"

Seeing that Zhang Yang had made up his mind, Ren Xiaomin was still a little confused, but he nodded:
"Okay, I trust your decision, I'll take care of it right away."

After saying this, he was ready to leave, but just as he stood up, he suddenly thought of another thing:
"By the way, Zhang Yang, now that everything is ready, you should also think carefully about the pricing of the medicines."

"Well, actually I've already thought about it!"

Zhang Yang smiled slightly, then slowly wrote down a string of numbers in his notebook.

When Ren Xiaomin looked at it, his expression suddenly changed drastically and he couldn't believe it.

"Zhang Yang, this price is too..."

Zhang Yang smiled:

"Go ahead and get busy. We'll hold a press conference together then!"

(End of this chapter)