Source｜ Deep Blue Finance
Writer｜ Ruixin Wu
I used to like to reply and ignore but now I can’t afford it. This phrase couldn’t be more appropriate to describe ibuprofen.
As a pain reliever and fever reducer, ibuprofen was once looked down upon because it was believed to cause addiction and side effects. But now ibuprofen has become a hot commodity, sold out by countless netizens, and even a medicine is hard to find.
Today, there are dozens of topics on #蓝贝贝# on Weibo. Among them, #蓝洛芬真相物防消药吗# #Why everyone hoards ibuprofen# and other topics, which has over 100 million views.
China is the world’s largest producer and exporter of ibuprofen, accounting for 1/3 of world production. Data show that in 2020, 2021 and the first half of this year, the domestic demand for ibuprofen raw materials is about 1616 tons, 1725 tons and 1565 tons, respectively. Leading companies Xinhua Pharmaceutical and Hendi Pharmaceutical have production capacities of 8,000 tons and 3,500 tons respectively, which are more than six times the market demand of last year. When calculated on the basis of the estimate that demand in the second half of the year is double that of the first half of the year and that for the full year is three times that of last year, half of the production capacity of these two company can meet the market demand.
What is the concept of the production capacity of 10,000 tons of raw materials? Most of the specifications of ibuprofen tablets and ibuprofen extended release capsules on the market are 0.1g/tablet and 0.3g/tablet. When calculated on the basis of 0.3 g/capsule of extended-release capsules, the production capacity of Xinhua Pharmaceutical and Hendy Pharmaceuticals is equivalent to supply the market with 38.3 billion capsules.
So the question is, why can’t we buy medicines with such a large production capacity?
1
Gathering blindly to hoard medicine
final destination or garbage can
Ibuprofen is not like other drugs, in fact, the amount patients have to use is not large. According to the State Food and Drug Administration’s usage and dosage, adult patients with fever need approximately 0.2 g at a time, no more than 0.8 g within 24 hours, and should not be used for more than 3 days to the antipyretic. That is, each positive case of fever can consume up to 2.4 g.
Take the extended-release ibuprofen capsules for example. Most brands on the market contain about 20 capsules in a box, and you can only take two capsules a day at most. One box can be used basically by three fever positive cases. If it doesn’t get better, go to the hospital.
According to this standard, one box is enough for an average family of three. However, many people still stock up several times, or even more than ten times, when preparing medicine.
Some time ago, the bizarre “online purchase of medicines in different places” operation suddenly appeared on the Internet: change the location to small counties in remote central and western regions such as Guangxi, Tibet and Xinjiang, and then use Meituan and other software to carry out orders for drugs like ibuprofen, then let the rider express the medicine. If the rider doesn’t comply, he threatens to give a bad review.
In the relevant strategic posts on the Internet, some netizens have accumulated dozens or even dozens of boxes of medicines.
Why is ibuprofen “hard to find”? In interviews with reporters, many pharmaceutical raw material manufacturers attributed the reason to consumers hoarding goods together, resulting in a large market gap, and companies need time to complete the production cycle and distribution and transportation process. Buyers in the retail channel believe that short-term demand explosion and insufficient upstream production capacity are important reasons. Although pharmaceutical factories are ramping up production, they also face the risk that once short-term demand deadline has passed, the goods may fall into The factory has set an “iron law”: products produced overtime due to the epidemic cannot fall back in principle.
The shelf life of ibuprofen is usually 2 to 3 years. If you buy that much, if you don’t want to resell it, to ordinary people, chances are the final destination of these medicines is the garbage can.
2
Coming soon to the highest peak
Many pharmaceutical companies increase production and increase supply guarantees in many places
But for most netizens who can’t buy medicine, the truth is this, but the key is to be able to buy medicine.
And now, the peak of the epidemic has not yet been reached.
On December 17, Wu Zunyou, the chief epidemiologist of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, stressed at the annual meeting of finance and economy that the epidemic situation this winter can be summed up as “one peak and three waves.” . From mid-December to mid-January there will be the first wave of epidemics, the first wave will be dominated by cities and will gradually increase. The second wave is from late January to mid-February. The movement of people before the Spring Festival caused the second wave of epidemics to increase. The third wave runs from late February to mid-March, returning to work after the Spring Festival. These three waves of the epidemic form the peak of the new corona epidemic this winter, which lasts for about three months.
Recently, provinces such as Shandong, Jiangxi, Henan and Zhejiang issued official forecasts, predicting that the current cycle of infections will reach its peak from late December to mid-early January.
The peak has not yet arrived and now there are no medicines to buy, what should I do if I test positive in the future? This makes many netizens very anxious that they cannot buy medicine.
But in fact, the situation that ibuprofen is “hard to find” has begun to ease. Recently, Hubei, Shandong, Zhejiang and other places are stepping up efforts to secure supply to produce ibuprofen and bring it to market.
Among them, Wuhan began releasing 3 million ibuprofen tablets every day for a week starting on December 17. Jinan announced that 1.1 million ibuprofen tablets were released, and Zhejiang said that the daily output of ibuprofen granules has reached 40,000 boxes. Yichang Renfu said that it does not stop the machine and can produce 3,800 ibuprofen tablets per minute. Hefei, Nanjing, Fuzhou and other places also distribute anti-epidemic “health packs” containing ibuprofen and other drugs.
In addition, Xinhua Pharmaceutical, Simcere Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson and many other pharmaceutical companies have also chosen to increase production capacity.
On Dec. 16, in response to shortages of fever-reducing products such as Merrill Lynch and Tylenol under Johnson & Johnson in parts of the country, Johnson & Johnson told reporters, ‘Always pay attention to the current fever prevention and control situation. epidemic, and actively respond to the call of the government and hospitals and fully support it.” The current medical material safety work. At present, the Shanghai Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. factory has increased its production capacity and is prioritizing the supply of the Chinese market in the Asia-Pacific supply chain network. We are also actively promoting plans to optimize production facilities in order to further increase production capacity.”
On the same day, the 2 yuan a plate of paracetamol (acetaminophen) tablets produced by Northeast Pharmaceuticals became a hot search on Weibo. Northeast Pharmaceuticals responded in a media interview that it worked overtime to produce cold and fever treatment medicines such as acetaminophen tablets and sold them at low prices in pharmacies.
Hengrui Medicine also said before, “We fully understand the current public demand for such drugs and will do our best to meet them. Currently, the company is actively expanding production capacity according to market demand and taking multiple measures to expand production and guarantee supply and price stability”.
Source｜Deep Blue Finance and Economics, partially supplemented by Sino-Singapore Jingwei, 21st Century Business Herald
Original title: The world’s largest manufacturing capacity, but we can’t buy ibuprofen
