Key words of the pharmaceutical industry in 2025

At the beginning of 2025, many events affected the development of the global medical and health sector.

On a macro level, geopolitical factors, potential changes in FDA policies, etc., have increased the uncertainty of the global medical market. At the JPM conference, mergers and acquisitions among pharmaceutical enterprises were active, releasing confidence in the development of the industry. In China, the implementation of the new medical insurance directory and the accelerated application of drug traceability codes both indicate that this year will be an extraordinary one. The development trends of the industry are mainly reflected in the following key words:

The popularity of "going global" remains undiminished

Recently, "going global" has frequently made the news. The fact that Beigene's full-year operating profit turned positive and Hengrui Medicine submitted an application for listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange have sparked heated discussions. With the normalization of centralized procurement and medical insurance negotiations, a new industry consensus has emerged regarding the life cycle and pricing strategies of innovative drugs in China: "going global" will offer greater room for imagination to innovative drugs.

"Going global" is a typical manifestation of the high-quality development of China's pharmaceutical industry, which will help form a new development pattern with domestic circulation as the mainstay and domestic and international "dual circulation" reinforcing each other. This year, "going global" remains one of the topics of concern in the industry. Given that the research and development cycle of new drugs usually takes more than 10 years, the initial success of the "going global" journey often requires multiple five-year plans and even the continuous efforts of a generation.

【 Promotion 】 Model transformation

The current promotion of medicine mainly stems from the fact that the operation system of medical institutions in our country still needs to be improved in terms of continuing education and scientific research, as well as the insufficient level of patient services. To a certain extent, this can be regarded as the feedback of innovative drugs to the medical system, but it also has an impact onthe profitability and R&D capabilities of pharmaceutical companies. If enterprises reduce meetings, research funding and the assistanceof medical representatives to doctors' work, academic promotion work will be affected, and the same is true for hospitals. Therefore, this year, pharmaceutical companies and hospitals may rely more on third-party institutions such as medical associations or foundations as intermediaries to carry out relevant academic promotion work.

[National Talk] Pressure is increasing

The explicit indicators of medical insurance are mainly reflected in the total volume and efficiency. In terms of total volume, currently, the proportion of medical and health care expenditure in China's GDP is approximately 7%, and the growth rate of total medical insurance expenditure is expected to be 5.5% in 2024. It is expected that by 2025, the growth rate of total medical insurance expenditure and the growth rate of the pharmaceutical industry it affects may continue to maintain a level similar to that of GDP growth. In terms of efficiency, under the given total amount, it is necessary to ensure the stability and increase of average life expectancy and the number of healthy labor force, and enhance the fairness of the right to life and health.

At present, the medical insurance funds saved through centralized procurement and DRG payment will be more used for innovative drugs and the treatment of more patients. As all the drugs subject to centralized procurement are fully procured, the growth rate of medical insurance expenses released from centralized procurement drugs will slow down in the future, and innovative drugs may face greater price challenges. In addition, as the cross-provincial mutual aid policy for individual medical insurance accounts is piloted and advanced in nine provinces, and with the support of policies such as supplementary medical insurance and commercial insurance, the fairness of medical resources will be further enhanced.

Healthcare reform continues to deepen

Deepening medical reform is a long-term process: At the level of people's livelihood, it is necessary to enhance the sense of happiness and health of the people. At the industrial level, it is necessary to accelerate the formation of new productive forces in the medical and health sector. At the reform level of public institutions and state-owned enterprises, it is necessary to ensure the preservation and appreciation of state-owned assets, cultivate new medical innovation entities, and build the global competitiveness of the medical industry.

In 2025, healthcare reform will further deepen the coordinated development of medical care, medical insurance and pharmaceuticals. The economic prerequisite for the success of medical reform is the mature development of new productive forces in the medical and health field, that is, to solve the reform problems through the development of productive forces and the increment of the market. To accelerate the formation of new quality productive forces, it is not only necessary for pharmaceutical and medical device enterprises to innovate, but also for them to achieve "parallel" innovative development in many fields such as medical institutions, medical and pharmaceutical academic education and continuing education, patient management and public health science popularization. (Extracted from "Pharmaceutical Economics News"