On August 30, 2024, the Shanghai Pharmaceutical Affairs Institute issued a document that the information on products related to the centralized procurement of intraocular lenses and sports medicine organized by the state will be released through the portal on September 3, 2024, and will take effect on September 10, 2024. So far, the fourth batch of national procurement has been implemented in all provinces across the country. The "Notice on the Centralized Procurement and Use of Intraocular Lens and Sports Medicine Medical Consumables Organized by the State" issued by Shanghai marks the full implementation of the fourth batch of high-value consumables in China. This policy has had a significant impact on the medical industry, especially on the intraocular lens market.

It is reported that 126 companies were selected in this national procurement, involving 30 product categories, and the average price reduction of the selected products was 70%, of which the total purchase volume of intraocular lenses was 1.917 million pieces, with a total bid amount of 2.56 billion yuan, and an average price reduction of 60%. Ophthalmic intraocular lenses have always been a "hot product" in previous centralized procurement, and this centralized procurement covers all categories of intraocular lenses, including monofocal, bifocal, trifocal, and depth-of-field extended lenses.

From the perspective of winning brands, Aibonnord won the largest number of bids, with 317,000 pieces, followed by Johnson & Johnson Vision, Zeiss, Tag Heuer, and Alcon, accounting for 43% of the total purchase. From the perspective of high-end product types (bifocal, trifocal, depth of field extension), among the domestic brands, only Aibonod won the bid, and the others were won by multinational companies.

From the perspective of winning bids, Zeiss and Johnson & Johnson Vision occupy the top two, with 590 million yuan and 560 million yuan respectively; The domestic brand Aibonod ranked third with 315 million yuan, and Alcon ranked fourth with 220 million yuan, accounting for 66% of the total. However, domestic brands account for only 21% of them, which is a big gap with various multinational companies. Among the high-end intraocular lenses (bifocal, trifocal, extended depth of field), multinational companies still dominate, and there are many product categories that have won the bid, and Alcon has won the bid for all 8 types, showing the breadth and competitiveness of its product line. ZEISS and Johnson & Johnson Vision each won bids for 6 types of products and are also major players in the market. Based on the results of this bid, among foreign brands, Zeiss is the biggest winner of this centralized procurement.

A total of 270,000 pieces were won this time, and the winning bid amount reached 590 million yuan. Johnson & Johnson Vision won a total of 301,000 bids this time, but the purchase volume of depth of field extension-astigmatism products was 0, and the winning bid amount was 560 million yuan, slightly lower than that of Zeiss. TAG Heuer won the bid for a total of 129,000 pieces, with a bid amount of 120 million yuan, and only monofocal-non-astigmatism products won the bid. However, it is worth noting that Alcon won the bid for all 8 types of products this time, which is the brand with the most winning bids, and it is the lowest price among multiple types, with a winning bid of 120,000 pieces, and the winning bid amount is 220 million yuan due to the low unit price and small winning bid.

As a global leader in ophthalmology, Alcon not only reduced the price of its own trifocal intraocular lens from 23,000 yuan to 8,996 yuan in this national procurement, which is 40% lower than Zeiss. In terms of bifocal intraocular lenses, the company's offer of 1,796 yuan has also become the lowest in the market, even about 1,000 yuan lower than that of Aibonod. According to industry insiders, whether it is a surprise win under the market changes, or the early grabbing of the Chunjiang plumbing duck prophet, Alcon's move will undoubtedly subvert the domestic intraocular lens market, and the industry pattern is expected to usher in a major reshuffle.

Looking at the situation of domestic brands, Aibo Nord won the bid of 317,000 pieces this time, and the winning bid amount was 315 million yuan, accounting for 59% of the total number of domestic brands, and it was the biggest winner of domestic brands. Henan Universe won the bid for 86,600 pieces in this centralized procurement, and the winning bid amount was 70 million yuan. Lenstec won the bid for two products, monofocal-non-astigmatic and bifocal-non-astigmatism, with a winning bid of 111,000 pieces and a total bid amount of 130 million yuan. Tianjin Century Kangtai won the bid for 79,000 pieces in this centralized procurement, and the winning bid amount was 64 million yuan. Lei Ming Shikang won the bid for two products in this centralized procurement, including monofocal astigmatism and monofocal non-astigmatism, with a total of 80,000 pieces and a winning bid of 65 million yuan. It can be seen that local companies occupy most of China's low-end hard intraocular lens market, but European and American companies basically monopolize various subdivisions of China's soft intraocular lens market, and the process of domestic substitution is difficult and difficult. In the future, local companies are expected to achieve breakthroughs in trifocal intraocular lenses and depth-of-field intraocular lenses with fewer layouts in multinational companies, but the realization of technological change still depends on the guidance and encouragement of government policies, regulations, market pricing and other factors.

The companies involved in the centralized procurement believe that although the price reduction of intraocular lenses is relatively "reasonable", the competition is extremely fierce. A staff member of an intraocular lens company said: "The quotations of many foreign companies continue to refresh the bottom line, which we did not expect at first, while the quotations of domestic companies are relatively rational. "In the bidding for high-end bifocal, trifocal and extended depth of field intraocular lenses, Alcon's offer was very low. In contrast, the competing Johnson & Johnson and Zeiss offers are "decent". Zeiss's trifocal intraocular lens is quoted at about 18,000 yuan, a price reduction of 20%, while the market price of Alcon's trifocal intraocular lens is about 23,000 yuan, but the quotation has dropped to more than 8,900 yuan, a decrease of more than 60%.

Why is Alcon so bold and aggressive? Previously, Johnson & Johnson and Zeiss had been dominating the domestic high-end intraocular lens market. Although Alcon is a global leader in the field of ophthalmology, its domestic intraocular lens market share is relatively low among multinational companies, especially in the field of functional intraocular lenses. The main reason is that the company entered the Chinese market relatively late, and the launch of functional crystal products was also later than that of competitors, and Alcon adopted a direct sales model, and the relationship between terminal customers was still not as good as that of dealers in various provinces and cities. Alcon's adoption of such a quotation strategy this time may be to enhance the company's price advantage and compete for domestic market share. With the landing of this batch of products, the market share of various companies in the high-end intraocular lens market may change. In the document released by the National Joint Procurement Office, the procurement of trifocal intraocular lenses involves two companies: Alcon and Zeiss. The specific purchase volume is: Alcon: 5,402 tablets, Zeiss: 12,745 tablets. Alcon, with its lowest bid and the advantage of winning the bid in the first place, can get a 70% share of the purchase volume from Zeiss according to the centralized procurement rules.

In addition, Alcon's significant price reduction is also due to the fact that it has a 4:6 ratio of sales to public and private medical institutions, which allows it to maintain sufficient profit margins when reducing prices. Such a strategy has not only helped it expand its market share, but also strengthened its competitiveness in price-sensitive markets to a certain extent. In competition with domestic brands, Alcon is mainly betting on bifocal intraocular lenses. The domestic company Aibonord only has one bifocal intraocular lens product, but in terms of demand, it is twice that of Alcon; Moreover, the non-astigmatism monofocal intraocular lens of Aibonord is the most demanded intraocular lens product, and the price has also dropped from 2,500 yuan to nearly 800 yuan, a decrease of 68%. In order to cut into the mass market, the price of 1796 yuan for Alcon's bifocal intraocular lens is about 1000 yuan lower than that of Ebonord. But on the whole, bifocal is the most obvious place to achieve sales growth after the consumption upgrade of intraocular lenses in the future, Alcon relies on low prices, and Aibonod relies on better vision improvement and higher channel prices, both of which will increase volume.

With the continuous development of the market and R&D capabilities, some competitive enterprises have gradually emerged, such as Aibo Medical, Haohai Biotech, Gaosi Medical, etc., coupled with some favorable policies for Class III medical devices issued by the state, it is believed that the market share of domestic intraocular lenses in various types of fields will increase year by year.

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