Price Plunge from ¥3,900 to ¥800: Medtronic, Abbott, Boston Scientific, Lepu Among Major MedTech Firms Hit by Aggressive Chinese Tender Repricing

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Multiple Well-Known Medical Device Companies See Significant Price Drops

Recently, the Gansu Provincial Public Resource Trading Center issued the "Notice on Adjusting the Listed Prices of Certain Medical Consumables" along with the corresponding price details.

Ciel Blue Device has found that this price adjustment involves well-known domestic and foreign medical device companies such as Abbott, Boston Scientific, Medtronic, BIOTRONIK, Lepu Medical, Hunan Eptech, Shandong Jiwei, and Alcon.

The price reduction for the products in this round reached up to 79.5%, with seven products experiencing price cuts of more than 50%:

A certain rapid-exchange PTCA catheter with a non-compliant dilation balloon from BIOTRONIK saw its price drop from 3,900 yuan to 800 yuan, representing a 79.5% reduction;

A certain coronary artery balloon dilation catheter from Nipro saw its price drop from 2,810.6 yuan to 600 yuan, representing a 78.7% decrease;

One of Abbott's drug-eluting coronary stent systems saw its price drop from 12,100 yuan to 2,799 yuan, representing a 76.9% reduction;

One of Nipro’s coronary artery balloon dilation catheters saw its price drop from 2,900 yuan to 800 yuan, a decrease of 72.4%;

Abbott's drug-eluting coronary stent system saw its price drop from 17,000 yuan to 7,000 yuan, representing a 58.8% reduction.

It is understood that the public notice period for this announcement ran from April 30, 2021, to May 7, 2021, during which appeals and challenges were accepted from listed enterprises and medical institutions. The adjusted prices shall be implemented province-wide effective May 8, 2021.

In addition to Gansu Province, Heilongjiang Province has also recently adjusted the prices of coronary artery-related products, with price reductions exceeding 70%.

On April 22, the Heilongjiang Public Resource Trading Network released the “Public Notice on Adjusting Price Information for High-Value Medical Consumables.” The adjustments cover 1,008 products, including those from renowned domestic and international medical device manufacturers such as Abbott, Boston Scientific, Weigao, MicroPort, and Lepu.

Among them, the price of one of Abbott's drug-eluting coronary stent systems decreased from RMB 12,100 to RMB 2,799, a reduction of 76.87%;

MicroPort's coronary sirolimus-targeted eluting stent system saw its price drop from RMB 18,500 to RMB 5,000, a decrease of 72.97%;

Boston Scientific's platinum-chromium alloy biodegradable polymer everolimus-eluting coronary stent system saw its price drop from 19,000 yuan to 6,999 yuan, a decrease of 63.16%;

Lepu Medical’s intravascular carrier-free drug-eluting (sirolimus) stent system saw its price drop from RMB 10,900 to RMB 6,950, a decrease of 36.24%;

Weigao's hollow-fiber dialyzer saw its price drop from 115 yuan to 99.77 yuan, a decrease of 13.24%.

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Products Not Selected in Bidding Must Also Reduce Prices

The aforementioned notice from Gansu Province indicates that, in accordance with the requirements of the “Notice on Carrying Out the Sunshine Listing Declaration for Non-Selected Products in the Centralized Volume-Based Procurement of High-Value Medical Consumables” (hereinafter referred to as the “Notice”) issued by the Gansu Provincial Public Resource Trading Bureau (Gan Jiaoyi Yi Zi [2021] No. 28), this announcement is made regarding medical consumable products for which enterprises have voluntarily applied for price reductions or require price adjustments.

"The Notice" requires that the scope of declaration includes products not selected in the centralized volume-based procurement of medical consumables in Gansu Province, including those not selected in the national centralized volume-based procurement of coronary stents and the inter-provincial alliance-organized volume-based procurement of intraocular lenses and coronary dilation balloons.

Going forward, for all centralized volume-based procurement of medical consumables in which Gansu Province participates, the manufacturers (or distributors) of non-selected products shall, within one month after the announcement of the procurement results, complete the online listing declaration and price adjustments for their products on the Sunshine Procurement Platform in accordance with the requirements of this Notice, without further separate notifications being issued.

Regarding price adjustments, the Notice requires that non-winning products listed on the platform adhere to the principle of "matching performance with price" consistent with winning products.

For products not selected in the volume-based procurement organized by national and inter-provincial alliances, enterprises are encouraged to proactively adjust and declare their prices in accordance with the bid prices submitted during the national or alliance-based volume-based procurement. Enterprises that did not participate in the national and alliance-based volume-based procurement shall submit declarations based on the principle of matching the performance and price of their products with those of the selected products.

The submission deadline for Class III products in this cycle is March 25, 2021, with approvals announced on a rolling basis as batches are finalized.

It is understood that the enterprise declaration price will be adjusted to the latest reference listing price in Gansu Province. All medical institutions are required to strictly implement their primary responsibility for procurement, adhere to the principles of clinical necessity and matching performance and price with selected products, conduct price negotiations and procurement through the Gansu Provincial Medical Consumables Sunshine Procurement Platform, and are prohibited from directly procuring without prior evaluation or bypassing the price negotiation process. The scope of application and procurement volume of non-selected listed products shall be strictly controlled.

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Another Major Province for Medical Consumables to Begin Price Slashing

Products not selected in Gansu Province are also required to reduce prices. Meanwhile, Henan Province will also introduce a batch of volume-based procurement items, which will similarly be subject to price reductions.

On April 29, the Henan Provincial Public Resource Trading Center issued the “Announcement on Centralized Volume-Based Procurement of Medical Consumables by the Southwest Regional Alliance of Henan Province.”

The announcement states that, with the approval of the Henan Provincial Healthcare Security Administration, centralized volume-based procurement is now being conducted for three categories of medical consumables—needleless IV connectors, indwelling needle dressings, and pre-filled syringe catheter flushers—as well as related services in medical institutions across Henan Province.

The purchasing entities include all public medical institutions across the province, with encouragement for designated social-run medical institutions participating in the medical insurance scheme to join.

The agreed procurement volume is determined as 80% of the total annual demand over the procurement cycle, reasonably reported by all participating public medical institutions and other entities in the centralized volume-based procurement.

It is understood that prior to this, on February 4, the Henan Provincial Public Resource Trading Center issued the “Notice on Carrying Out the Filing of Product Information by Manufacturers for Medical Consumables Included in the Centralized Volume-Based Procurement of the Southwest Henan Regional Alliance.” This marked the commencement of product information filing for four categories of consumables: vacuum blood collection tubes, infusion connectors, transparent dressings, and pre-filled syringe catheter flushers.

In addition, according to a review by Saibailan Devices, Henan Province has completed multiple rounds of volume-based procurement.

On October 28, 2020, according to Dahe Network, Henan Province completed its first volume-based procurement of medical consumables. The average price reduction for two categories of medical consumables—intraocular lenses and indwelling needles—was 66.5%, with the highest reduction reaching 94.34%. The winning bid prices for multiple products hit new national lows.

In March this year, the Henan Provincial Public Resource Trading Center issued a notice stating that 416 medical institutions from the three cities of Luohe, Zhumadian, and Xinyang participated in centralized procurement. The products involved, as indicated in the aforementioned notice, included six categories of medical consumables—namely, disposable suction catheters, disposable nebulizers, disposable drainage bags, disposable urinary catheters, disposable urinary catheterization kits, and disposable sterile vaginal dilators—comprising a total of 41 products. The final average price reduction was 45%, with the maximum reduction reaching 91%.

In April this year, according to the Xinxiang Municipal Healthcare Security Administration, the centralized volume-based procurement of medical consumables conducted by a consortium of eight cities (counties) in Henan Province, led by Xinxiang City, officially opened bids. The volume-based procurement included three types of consumables—disposable ventilator circuit gas kits, disposable high-pressure contrast injector accessories, and disposable central venous catheters (CVC)—and two reagents—creatinine assay reagents and homocysteine assay reagents. A total of 71 companies participated in the bidding, with 32 ultimately winning the bids. The maximum price reduction reached 81.6%, and the average price reduction for the three consumables was 66.58%. For all five items combined, the average price reduction reached 51.66%.

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