(Yicai) Jan. 17 -- Shares of Innovent Biologics surged after the Chinese biopharmaceutical company said that the potential inclusion of its biosimilar products in the country’s centralized drug procurement program would not affect its financial performance.

Innovent [HKG: 1801] was trading up 5.5 percent at HKD31.65 (USD4.06) as of 2.30 p.m. in Hong Kong today, after plunging 10.3 percent yesterday on rumors of the expansion of China’s bulk-buying scheme to biopharmaceutical products.

Even if it is confirmed that the centralized drug procurement program will be expanded to biosimilars, the overall impact on the company’s sales will be limited because sales and administrative expenses will also be reduced along with prices, Innovent told Yicai today. Moreover, only three of Innovent’s 14 products on the market are biosimilars.

“There are no further details about the specific list, rules, methods, and timing of the expanded drug procurement program,” Innovent noted. “The company will follow up.”

In the long term, Innovent’s goal of achieving CNY20 billion (USD2.73 billion) in domestic product revenue by 2027 is based on the assumption that centralized procurement will take place and will not significantly impact operations, the firm pointed out.  

On Jan. 15, the Healthcare Security Administration of Anhui announced that the province plans to expand its drug and medical consumables bulk-buying program this year for a nationwide alliance for the centralized procurement of biopharmaceutical products.

China’s centralized procurement scheme mainly focuses on chemical drugs and traditional Chinese medicines. As for biologic products, only insulin has been included so far, with centralized procurement of biosimilars only active in some regions.

Even though there are differences in the quality evaluation methods of biosimilars and generic chemical drugs, the former adhere to stricter quality standards, Chen Jinfu, former deputy director of the National Healthcare Security Administration, said in the past.

Biosimilars will definitely be included in the centralized procurement program in the future, with quality being the top priority, Chen added, noting that established rules will better align with market demand.

Editor: Futura Costaglione