(Yicai Global) Jan. 12 -- Tenders for China’s first centralized procurement of dental implants opened yesterday in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, with the average winning price down 55 percent to more than CNY900 (USD133) and the cost of imported products generally sinking.

The centralized bulk-buying of dental implants is the first attempt by the Chinese authorities to expand the procurement of high-value medical consumables from the medical insurance field to the non-medical insurance sector.

The National Healthcare Security Administration was set up in 2018 to run the country’s bulk-buying medical program, whose widening scope is leading to major savings for patients. 

This time the system channeled the needs of nearly 18,000 medical institutions to buy 2.87 million dental implants, or about 72 percent of the total used in the country each year, according to the NHSA.

As the centralized procurement cycle is three years, the results also imply the pattern of competition in China’s dental implants market in the next three years.

Fifty-five companies put in bids, with 39 selected. The winners included international giants and Chinese firms such as Weihai Weigao Jericom Biomaterials and Bioconcept.

Prices of imported products, which account for more than 70 percent of China’s dental implants market, sank overall. Switzerland’s Straumann, US-based Dentsply, and Nobel Biocare of Sweden offered prices of about CNY1,850 (USD274), versus the previous average of CNY5,000 (USD741).

The prices of 33 winning products were below CNY1,000, Yicai Global learned from the results provided by an on-site source. The grade-four pure titanium product from Hangzhou Minsheng Lide Medical Science and Technology won with the lowest bid of CNY548.

In addition to implants, dental implant materials also include consumables such as tooth crowns. According to previous National Healthcare Security Administration rules, the price of crowns will not be determined by centralized purchase, but by online bidding.

The online bidding for crowns is expected to begin soon after the bulk-buying of dental implants. The overall price of dental implants may drop by about 50 percent, with the more favorable prices reaching people as soon as late March.

Editor: Peter Thomas