Talking about the R&D and cost of APIs under the background of 4+7 volume procurement
Article by Yanzu Wu at Changchun BridgeOn December 6, 2018, in the dark night sky of China’s generic drug market, a dazzling lightning illuminates the shocked people, followed by Long Lei The sound awakened the people who were still in their dreams, and the heavy rain that followed even filled the people who had nowhere to hide. On this day, China’s first batch of 11 cities in pilot countries organized centralized procurement with volume, commonly known as “4+7” volume procurement. The pre-winning results were announced. The unprecedented 52% average price reduction was staggering . Later, when some people in the industry questioned whether it could be implemented, the national leaders made repeated orders, and the National Medical Insurance Bureau decided to kill the results, and until April 1, 2019, the full-scale procurement was launched in 11 cities. On April 16, the Medical Insurance Bureau announced that 27.31% of the total agreed purchases of the 25 selected varieties in 11 pilot cities have been completed, exceeding expectations. Many provinces and cities across the country have successively issued policy linkage 4+7 price reductions, and many unsuccessful products have also taken the initiative to significantly reduce prices. An obvious conclusion is: 4+7 volume procurement is the top-level design of the country, which reflects the firm will of the country. The most significant impact brought by 4+7 volume purchases is to reduce the price of patent expired original research drugs and their generic drugs, which makes generic drugs small profits. The new situation requires generic drug companies to strictly control costs to maintain a certain profit. After mass procurement eliminates the promotion link, APIs usually become the main cost of generic drugs. At this time, some pharmaceutical companies that can be self-sufficient in raw materials and realize the “upstream and downstream integration of the industrial chain” have a significant advantage. The common saying is “no middleman makes the difference.” Some pharmaceutical companies that have not achieved self-sufficiency of APIs may consider getting involved in this link. This article briefly introduces the development and production process of generic APIs and the pain points of cost control, and discusses the development trend of China’s API industry. R&D and production process of generic drug original drugsAPI refers to the process of chemical synthesis, microbial fermentation, natural product separation, semi-synthesis (based on fermentation products or natural products). Continue to synthesize) the active ingredient (API, active pharmaceutical ingredient) obtained through one or more chemical unit operations and used in the manufacture of pharmaceutical preparations (preparation). The research and development process of generic APIs is basically as follows. Patent analysisAnalyze the intellectual property rights of the target API, including the patents that the original researcher and other companies have held and are applying for the target API, including compounds and intermediates , Crystal type and process patents. Analyze in detail the content and duration of the patent protection, and pay attention to avoiding or cracking Phenibut Suppliers in the subsequent steps. Design a synthetic routeGenerally, the synthetic route of the original research manufacturer is preferred, or you can design your own new synthetic route. According to the structure of the target API, refer to relevant literature, comprehensively analyze, determine the synthetic route with feasible process, reasonable cost and relatively high yield. The route needs to consider starting materials, intermediates, reaction solvents, post-treatment solvents and key catalysts, etc., as well as the availability of raw materials, the reaction conditions of the synthetic route, environmental protection and safety, and product purification. Take an example that may not be very appropriate. In the famous American drama “Breaking Bad”, chemistry teacher Walter White used two different routes to synthesize methamphetamine (methamphetamine) before and after, with very different raw materials and operations. The first method extracts pseudoephedrine from cold medicine, extracts red phosphorus from the side of the match box and the head of the match, and then uses the Nagai reaction (hydroiodic acid/red phosphorus) to reduce and dehydroxylate to obtain the target compound with 96% purity. The second method uses P2P (phenyl-2-propanone, phenyl-2-propanone) and methylamine as raw materials to carry out reductive amination reaction to obtain the target compound with a purity of more than 99%, but it contains trace impurities. Light blue, it became the famous blue ice in the southwestern United States in the play. Figure 1. Synthesis of methamphetamine by Nagai reaction