On December 6, the State Administration of Market Supervision announced that the monopoly of three raw material pharmaceutical manufacturers of glacial acetic acid was punished by 12.83 million yuan according to law. This is the biggest penalty for anti-monopoly cases in the field of APIs since the implementation of the Anti-monopoly Law in China. Monopoly price increase of APIs will lead to price increase of commonly used drugs, which is of great concern to the state regulatory authorities. 'rdquo,'said Liu Jian, director of the Abuse Investigation Department of the Antimonopoly Bureau of the Bureau of Market Supervision.
Since this year, the rising prices of common medicines such as chlorpheniramine, licorice tablets and roxithromycin have attracted much attention. The phenomenon of insufficient supply of some raw materials in the upstream and upstream of chlorpheniramine tablets, rapid price increase, and even supply cutoff has also triggered many discussions in the industry.
Liu Jian introduced: & ldquo; Currently, the General Administration of Market Supervision is investigating the suspected monopoly price increase of chlorpheniramine and other related APIs, and will publish the results as soon as possible. This punishment is not an aim for the three raw material pharmaceutical manufacturers of glacial acetic acid. More importantly, it is a warning to other raw material pharmaceutical enterprises to restore market order as soon as possible. ”
How do API companies collude with price increases?

In July this year, the General Administration of Market Supervision received a report that some operators of raw materials of glacial acetic acid jointly raised prices, which damaged the interests of downstream pharmaceutical manufacturers and patients.
After receiving the report, the General Administration of Market Supervision launched an anti-monopoly investigation. The survey found that from October 2017 to February 2018, Chengdu Huayi Pharmaceutical Accessories Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Sichuan Jinshan Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and Guangdong Taishan Xinning Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. have exchanged market quotations, exchanged information on production and sales volume, and discussed common issues in the process of producing and selling raw materials of glacial acetic acid. Price increase.
After many deliberations, the three enterprises involved in the case finally reached a monopoly agreement to jointly raise the sale price of raw materials of glacial acetic acid. From March 1, the sale price of raw materials of glacial acetic acid was raised from 7-mdash; 9 yuan/kg to 28-mdash; 33 yuan/kg, and sold to the outside world at this price.
In violation of the relevant provisions of the Anti-monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China, the General Administration of Market Supervision recently imposed administrative penalties according to law, ordering three enterprises to stop their illegal activities, confiscating 6.582 million yuan of illegal income, and imposing fines of 4% of the sales of the previous year on three enterprises, totaling 6.2516 million yuan. A total of 128.338 million yuan was fined to three enterprises involved in the case.
What are the dangers of the explosion of APIs?
As a raw material, glacial acetic acid is mainly used in the production of hemodialysis concentrate for the treatment of advanced renal failure, uremia and other diseases. The monopoly behavior of the three enterprises is serious in nature and harmful in depth.
First, market competition has been severely excluded and restricted. As the only three glacial acetic acid production enterprises in the market, after the monopoly agreement has been reached and implemented, the price of raw materials of glacial acetic acid has been unified, which has seriously destroyed the market competition order.
The second is to increase the burden of downstream pharmaceutical enterprises. Glacial acetic acid is the main raw material of hemodialysis concentrate. The sharp rise in price directly increases the downstream production cost and increases the cost burden of downstream pharmaceutical enterprises.
Third, it endangers the normal treatment of dialysis patients. The high price of raw materials of glacial acetic acid leads to the reduction of production and discontinuation of hemodialysis concentrate in downstream pharmaceutical enterprises, which endangers the normal treatment of hemodialysis patients.
After receiving the anti-monopoly investigation, the three enterprises have restored the sale price of raw materials of glacial acetic acid to a competitive state, and guaranteed the normal supply of the market.
How to solve the monopoly dilemma of APIs?
At present, monopoly in the field of raw material drugs occurs from time to time in China, which damages the legitimate rights and interests of patients and pharmaceutical manufacturers, and destroys the market order of fair competition.
The General Administration of Market Supervision will continue to strengthen anti-monopoly law enforcement in the field of APIs, severely crack down on monopoly price increases and other monopolistic acts, protect the legitimate rights and interests of patients and relevant operators, and create a fair market environment for competition.
(Source: General Administration of Market Supervision, Cyberland)