In 2024, the improvement of quality and expansion of consumables through centralized procurement will accelerate, and multiple high-value consumables will achieve significant price reductions; At the same time, the coverage of centralized procurement of in vitro diagnostic reagents is expanding, and the IVD industry is undergoing a comprehensive transformation.

According to the statistics of Yaozhi Medical Equipment, about 10 large-scale consumables procurement projects were carried out in 2024, involving various types of consumables such as cochlear implants, peripheral interventions, IVD reagents, etc., and many varieties have not experienced centralized procurement and price reduction before.

High value consumables, centralized procurement acceleration
In 2024, the storm of centralized procurement in the high-value consumables field has not stopped, and multiple consumables have achieved significant price reductions.

Among them, the results of centralized procurement of consumables in the intervention field are particularly significant. In the fifth batch of high-value consumables for national procurement, the peripheral vascular stent medical consumables have achieved a significant price reduction. This category covers three categories: lower limb arterial stents, non lower limb arterial stents, and venous stents. The selected products come from 18 companies including Kehui, Poco, and Xianjian Medical, with the lowest bid price reaching 2280 yuan, a decrease of more than 50%. It is reported that the demand for peripheral vascular stent consumables in this national procurement is 258000 units.

In 2024, Gansu Province also led the collection of peripheral vascular interventional microcatheters and micro guide wires, with 24 provinces (cities, autonomous regions, and corps) participating nationwide, resulting in an average product reduction of 62.21%. According to reports, based on the agreed procurement volume in the first year and the lowest online price on the alliance provincial platform, the alliance provinces can save 1.002 billion yuan in funds.

In addition to large-scale alliance procurement, several provinces and cities have completed separate local procurement in 2024, including Anhui's centralized procurement of intracranial stents, thrombectomy stents, and blood flow guided dense mesh stents. Fujian's fifth batch of medical consumables procurement also includes multiple interventional consumables such as CVC central venous catheters (via central venous route) and PICC central venous catheters (via peripheral venous route)

Throughout 2024, the focus of centralized procurement in the intervention field will be on two major tracks: neurology and peripheral intervention. It is understood that the technical barriers for nerve intervention and peripheral intervention consumables are relatively high, and the localization rate is lower compared to other consumables, especially in the mid to high end field, where foreign-funded enterprises occupy an advantageous position. In recent years, with the comprehensive improvement and expansion of centralized procurement, domestic products are expanding their market share by leveraging their price advantages; At the same time, the enthusiasm of foreign-funded enterprises for centralized procurement has also significantly increased. Under the competition of both sides, a new market pattern is taking shape.

From the fifth batch of high-value consumables imported from China, it can also be seen that foreign-funded enterprises have greatly improved their adaptability to centralized procurement of cochlear implants. In this round of centralized procurement, cochlear implant products from three foreign-funded enterprises, Austria's Medil Medical, the United States' leading bionic, and Australia's Kolear, were all selected. Among them, Medil's product bidding price was 38% lower than the highest effective bidding price.

Overall, most categories of high-value consumables have low penetration rates in China, and foreign-funded enterprises have a relatively large market share, with considerable market growth potential. After the price reduction of high-value consumables through centralized procurement, patients can better afford the product price, and the market penetration rate of consumables is expected to increase. Both domestic and foreign-funded enterprises are expected to gain incremental benefits.

Innovation in the form of centralized procurement
In 2024, the IVD industry will once again face challenges, with two major national joint procurement projects leveraging a market worth billions.

Among them, Anhui Province led the centralized procurement of luminescent reagents, involving 25 types of IVD reagents such as 16 tumor markers and 9 thyroid function markers, with 28 provinces participating and a total demand of 550 million samples. Jiangxi Province has collected six categories of biochemical testing reagents, including glucose metabolism, ion trace elements, blood lipids and lipoproteins, liver function, pancreas, and kidney function, covering 27 provinces across the country. The total demand for milliliters is 160 million milliliters, and the number of tests is about 400 million. According to reports, based on the price reduction results of the two major centralized procurement projects, the market size of IVD reagents has been reduced by billions of yuan.

At the same time as disrupting the IVD market, centralized procurement has also brought new opportunities, such as innovative forms of centralized procurement.

It is understood that due to the certain correlation between IVD reagents and IVD equipment, some reagents even have the characteristic of "special machine dedicated", so some centralized procurement projects have encountered the problem of "difficult landing". In 2024, Jiangsu Province's "Non invasive Prenatal Genetic Testing Service Volume Procurement" provides an example to solve this problem.

In this centralized procurement, Jiangsu Province has transformed the previous "product centralized procurement" into "service centralized procurement", with genetic testing services as the centralized procurement object, and medical institutions and third-party medical testing institutions conducting testing as the participating entities. They independently determine the testing equipment and reagents to reduce the cost of the testing process, and successfully reduce the price of testing services through competition. In other words, medical institutions without corresponding sequencing machines cannot participate in centralized procurement, ultimately avoiding the problem of centralized procurement results being unable to be implemented.

In addition to IVD reagents, other common consumables are also exploring new forms of centralized procurement. Among them, Sanming Alliance, as a pioneer explorer in medical reform, made a new attempt at centralized procurement of drug consumption in 2024.

In February 2024, Sanming Municipal Government and Ruijin Hospital affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine announced the cooperation of "six diseases under common management", aiming at the overall management of six types of high incidence rate diseases, including tumor, cardio cerebrovascular, respiratory, metabolic, reproductive medicine and geriatrics. The six major diseases are set around prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment, management and rehabilitation life cycle management. In November, Sanming Alliance issued a notice on the historical procurement information of affiliated medical institutions of enterprises applying for the "Six Disease Joint Management" consumables project, and launched a new round of centralized procurement of drugs and consumables in the same month, targeting products for diseases such as tumors and respiratory diseases.

In the future, with the comprehensive implementation of policies such as DRG and DIP, the packaged procurement of "centralized procurement by disease" may be rolled out nationwide. The centralized procurement based on disease types is expected to help patients find the most cost-effective diagnosis and treatment plans and medication plans, further improving the efficiency and effectiveness of centralized procurement. The consumables market in China is also expected to become more pure and efficient in this process.

Conclusion
In 2024, significant results were achieved in the centralized procurement of medical consumables, not only expanding the range of consumables, but also innovating the form of centralized procurement; In addition, the price reduction of centralized procurement tends to be moderate, and equipment companies are more adaptable to the pace of centralized procurement. The clinical value of products has gradually become a key focus of centralized procurement.

Source: https://news.yaozh.com/archive/44853.html