(Yicai) Dec. 1 -- The latest round of China’s centralized bulk medical device procurement pushed down prices by an average of 70 percent, saving public health centers about CNY10.6 billion (USD1.5 billion) a year.

A total of 128 companies, including mainstream medical devices makers Alcon, Bausch & Lomb, Shanghai Pharmaceutical, Wego Holding, and Johnson & Johnson, participated in the bidding, and products from 126 of them won the tenders, resulting in an acceptance rate of 98 percent, China’s National Healthcare Security Administration said, Yicai learned at the event held in Tianjin yesterday.

The prices of products involved in the bulk-buying round before the price cuts were around CNY15.5 billion, with those of the 11 types of consumable artificial intraocular lenses totaling CNY6.5 billion (USD917.3 million) and those of the 19 types of sports medicine-related consumables reaching CNY9 billion.

The average price reduction of consumable artificial intraocular lenses was around 60 percent, saving CNY3.9 billion a year. Meanwhile, the average price cut on sports medicine-related consumables was 74 percent, meaning that CNY6.7 billion will be saved every year.

Products from Smith & Nephew and Alcon, which accounted for the largest share of the centralized bulk buy, were all inducted, indicating that foreign firms have attached great importance to satisfying China’s clinical demand, said Jiang Changsong, assistant dean of the National Healthcare Institute of the Capital Medical University in Beijing.

Among domestic firms, products from more small- and medium-sized enterprises were selected compared with earlier rounds, with the corresponding prices being more rational, noted Jiang, who is also the director of the office of pricing and procurement of the institute.

According to Jiang, after this round of centralized bulk-buying, the substitution effect of China’s home-grown consumables will gradually become visible.

The price difference between imported and domestic medical consumables is around 10 percent to 15 percent, Jiang said. Theoretically, home-grown medical consumables will have lower comprehensive costs and higher gross profit margins because Chinese manufacturers will have some basic advantages in multiple fields, such as costs, supply chains, raw materials, and labor force, he pointed out.

The fourth round of centralized bulk-buying medical devices procurement will be executed by May or June next year, benefiting many patients, said Gao Xue, deputy director of the national office that administers the bulk-buy program for high-value medical products.

Editor: Futura Costaglione