Impact of “4+7” City Drug Centralized Procurement Program on the utilization of original and generic cardiovascular drugs in a tertiary hospital / 药学实践杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To analyze the impact of “4+7” City Drug Centralized Procurement Program on the utilization of cardiovascular medicines, and to provide a reference for optimizing the policy of generic medicines as substitutes for original medicines. Methods Eleven drugs, both generic and original were selected for treatment of cardiovascular diseases in an outpatient clinic of a tertiary hospital in Shanghai. The proportion of use of generic drugs and original drug, ratio of used amount, daily cost ratio, and potential cost savings rate of replacement of original drug by generic drug were analyzed before the “4+7” (2018.04.01-2018.09.30) and after the “4+7” (2019.04.01-2019.09.30). Results After the “4+7”, the proportion of the original research drug used decreased from 84.32% to 58.12%, and the ratio of amount of used money decreased from 86.02% to 78.16%; the proportion of generic medicines used increased from 15.68% to 41.88%, and the ratio of amount used increased from 13.98% to 21.84%; the daily cost ratio of generic medicine to original medicine decreased from 0.87 to 0.39. Under the same condition, the potential cost savings of replacing the original drug with generic drugs before and after the “4+7” were RMB 3.703 million and RMB 3.399 million, respectively, and the cost saving rate was 35% and 61%, respectively. Conclusion The “4+7” City Drug Centralized Procurement Program significantly increase the use of cardiovascular generic drugs and significantly reduce the cost of drugs; however, it has a small impact on the quantity and amount of generic drugs used. There is still a significant potential for cost saving. It is recommended to further increase the publicity of the policy on the substitution of original drug by generic, expedite the consistency evaluation process of generic drugs and take measures to avoid the widening of the price gap between original drugs and generics.