Why is the price of high-value medical consumables so high?

There are many kinds of high-value medical consumables, which can be roughly divided into vascular intervention, non-vascular intervention, orthopedic implantation, neurosurgery, electrophysiology, pacemaker and so on. Heart stents, artificial joints, dialysis tubes and so on are all high-value medical consumables. High-value medical consumables are more expensive, mainly because of their large investment, long time, high raw material cost, high marketing cost and high channel service cost. Let's first look at the categories of medical high-value consumables. 1. What are the categories of high-value medical consumables?

High-value medical consumables generally refer to consumable medical consumables which are critical to safety, production and use must be strictly controlled, limited to certain specialties and relatively expensive. There are many classifications, mainly including:

1, vascular intervention class

Involving: coronary artery, structural heart disease, congenital heart disease, peripheral blood vessels, etc. Related high-value consumables mainly include catheters, guide wires, balloons, stents and auxiliary materials.

2. Non-vascular intervention

Involvement: trachea, digestive tract (esophagus, intestine, biliary tract, pancreas), bladder, rectum, etc. The related high-value consumables mainly include catheters, guide wires, balloons, stents and various materials involved in endoscopes.

3. Orthopedic implants

Involved: spine, joints, trauma, etc. , and its related high-value consumables mainly include artificial joints (vertebral bodies, laminae), fixed plates (nails, needles, frames, rods, hooks), artificial bones, repair materials, etc.

4. Neurosurgery

Related high-value consumables mainly include intracranial implants and fillers.

5. Electrophysiology

Related high-value consumables mainly include mapping catheter and ablation catheter.

6. Pacemaker

Involving: heart, bladder, etc. , and its related high-value consumables mainly include permanent, temporary, pacing catheters, cardioverter defibrillators, pacing leads, etc.

7. Extracorporeal circulation and blood purification

Its related high-value consumables mainly include artificial cardiopulmonary auxiliary materials, dialysis tubes, filters, separators, accessories and so on.

8. Ophthalmic materials

The related high-value consumables mainly include crystals and intraocular fillers.

9. Stomatology

Its related high-value consumables mainly include printing films, implants, maxillofacial trauma repair, oral cavity filling, root canal therapy, bonding, denture, orthodontics, correction and other materials.

10, other

Artificial valve, artificial patch, artificial blood vessel, polymer material, etc.

Second, why is the price of high-value medical consumables so high?

High-value medical consumables is a concept of relatively low-value medical consumables, and its price is usually relatively high. The main reasons for the high price are:

1, R&D has a large investment and a long time.

The research and development cycle of high-value medical consumables, from project investigation to product launch, is expected to be 3-5 years, which requires a lot of verification, such as laboratory verification, animal experiments, and some also need clinical trials. Most of the three types of medical device consumables need 5- 10 years, and most of them need clinical trial process, with considerable investment.

The cost of raw materials is very high.

At present, most of the high-value medical consumables are dominated by several foreign manufacturers for a long time, and most of the raw materials of domestic products depend on imports, which is also one of the factors that can't reduce the price of domestic products.

3. The marketing cost is high and the time is long.

It is estimated that it will take 5-8 years for most hospitals in China to use this product normally, and even some domestic products in hospitals have no chance to enter. After the product goes on the market, it needs to go through the marketing and bidding of various provinces and cities, some provinces once a year, and some once every 2-3 years. Without successful bidding, the whole province can't sell it, so it will take another 2-3 years. Some hospitals have limited four similar products, such as two imported products and two domestic products. They have not invited tenders for many years, purchased new products and had no chance. At present, the major academic conferences held by hospitals and associations are sponsored by many manufacturers, and the annual sponsorship fee is also very high, which affects the price of products.

4. Rapid product updates

Manufacturers need to recruit high-tech talents and constantly improve and upgrade their products. If they don't update, they will be eliminated. Rapid update requires human resources and capital investment, which is also one of the factors.

5. The channel service fee is high.

Manufacturers of high-value medical consumables do not sell directly to hospitals, but need to go through distributors and distributors. Dealers and distributors need to invest a lot of money to buy products and put them into hospitals. The payment cycle of each hospital is different. It usually takes 3 months to get the payment back, and the long one takes 1 year. If the profit is low, the dealer can't resist it.

To sum up, the price of high-value medical consumables is relatively high. With the development of technology and national control, the prices of some high-value medical consumables have also declined.