Company: HMDCF
Filing Date: 2025-03-19
Form Type: 20-F
Source: 0001410578-25-000377
Chunk: 256

Company: HUTCHMED (China) Ltd
Filing Date: 2025-03-19
Form: 20-F
Item: Item 1
Chunk 256
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 and commissions jointly promulgated the Working Regulations of Medical Institutions for Centralized Procurement of Drugs to further regulate the centralized procurement of drugs and clarify the code of conduct of the parties in centralized drug procurement.

The centralized tender process takes the form of public tender operated and organized by provincial or municipal government agencies in principle is conducted once every year in all provinces and cities in China. Drug manufacturing enterprises, in principle, shall bid directly for the centralized tender process. Certain related parties, however, may be engaged to act as bidding agencies. Such intermediaries are not permitted to engage in the distribution of drugs and must have no conflict of interest with the organizing government agencies. The bids are assessed by a committee composed of pharmaceutical experts who will be randomly selected from a database of experts approved by the relevant government authorities. The committee members assess the bids based on a number of factors, including but not limited to, bid price, product quality, clinical effectiveness, qualifications and reputation of the manufacturer, and after-sale services. Only pharmaceuticals that have won in the centralized tender process may be purchased by public medical institutions funded by government in the relevant region.

Table of Contents

4+7 Quality Consistency Evaluation

On November 15, 2018, China’s Joint Procurement Office published its Paper on Centralized Drug Procurement in “4+7 Cities,” known as the 4+7 Quality Consistency Evaluation process (“4+7 QCE”). The 4+7 QCE initiative is aimed at driving consolidation in the fragmented generic drug market in China. The 4+7 QCE initiative began as a pilot program in 11 cities: Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Chongqing, Shenyang, Dalian, Xiamen, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu and Xi’an. Under this pilot program, the public medical institutions in these 11 cities bulk-buy certain generic drugs together, forcing companies to bid for contracts and driving down prices. The 4+7 QCE initiative has expanded nationwide and now covers more varieties of drugs. On September 1, 2019, the Joint Procurement Office published its Paper on Centralized Drug Procurement in Alliance Areas (GY-YD2019-1), such areas covering 25 provinces and regions across China. On December 29, 2019, the Joint Procurement Office published its Paper on Nationwide Centralized Drug Procurement (GY-YD2019-2), promoting procurement nationwide, and on January 13, 2020, the National Healthcare Security Administration,