Presentation (CTI)

OBJECTIVES: The unreasonable pricing and excessive price variations in retail pharmacies in China cause concern. In response, the government has disclosed retail pharmacy prices online and set reference prices for certain medications. This study aims to analyze the gap between retail pharmacy prices and reference prices using commonly used statin drugs as examples, providing evidence for price governance.
METHODS: Retail and reference price data on best-selling specifications of commonly used statin drugs were obtained from the Sichuan Provincial Health Insurance Administration platform. The price comparison index (PCI, the ratio of retail price to reference price) is used to reflect the gap between retail drug price and reference price. A t-test compared the PCI of brand name drugs and generic drugs, and an OLS regression assessed the relationship between the average PCI of different drugs and their normalized reference prices.
RESULTS: The study compiled 950 price data points from 812 pharmacies. 8 specifications of brand name drugs (4 rosuvastatin calcium tablets, 4 atorvastatin calcium tablets) and 11 specifications of generic drugs (4 rosuvastatin calcium tablets, 7 atorvastatin calcium tablets) were included in the study. The t-test showed significantly higher PCI for generic drugs(average PCI : 3.96 vs. 1.13 for brand names; p < 0.001). In 69.64% of pharmacies, the PCI of generic drugs was higher than 1.50. Linear regression analysis indicated that drugs with lower reference prices have higher PCI (regression coefficient = -3.93, p = 0.02).
CONCLUSIONS: Brand name drugs are mainly sold in retail pharmacies, while generics are sold in hospitals. The insufficient competition for generic drugs in the retail market may lead to their price irrationality. Moreover, drugs with lower reference prices tend to have a larger gap between their retail prices and the reference prices. Retail price governance needs to be strengthened and should focus on low-priced generic drugs.