Qiuwen Wen: Drug prices and quality are not comparable and relevant

Drug prices and quality are not comparable and related. Qiu Zhenwen, deputy director of the Department of Pharmacy of the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, is expensive. There are hundreds of thousands of medical expenses that make the treatment of medical expenses a luxury. Looking back at the days when those few dollars could solve the cold problem, has it become a memory?

Qiu Zhenwen, the deputy director of the Department of Pharmacy at the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, said that "price and quality are not comparable and relevant, and it cannot be said that the higher the price, the better." Now a few dollars for a box of energy Can't cure a cold and cough? Where are these medicines missing?

Drug price and efficacy are not proportional to each other. Now that a cold has a feeling of “can't afford to hurt,” hospitals are often in vain, and doctors are rarely open. The price of cold medicine is generally more than 10 yuan, and it is also common to have more than 20 yuan. So whether a few dollars is outdated?

Qiu Wenwen said, “If we can meet the national pharmacopoeia quality standards as qualified drugs, the price and quality are not comparable and relevant, and we cannot say that the higher the price, the better.”

Qiu Wenwen said, “There are individual differences in the use of drugs. Some people may eat expensive drugs, imported drugs are effective, and cheap drugs do not respond. Someone is exactly the opposite.”

The composition of the price of medicines is complicated. Generally speaking, the prices of domestic medicines are relatively low, and the prices of Chinese-foreign joint ventures or imported medicines are slightly higher. Qiu Wenwen pointed out: "Some medicines are only a few bucks and the profits are very low. Some pharmaceutical companies may promote the sales of middle-to-high-end medicines with a good reputation brought by low-priced drugs in order to promote their own brands."

The pharmacy’s cheap drugs were placed in hidden locations. Reporters visited Cai Zhilin, Da Shen Lin, Jianmin Pharmaceutical and other pharmacies and found that there are many cold medicines and gastrointestinal medicines that cost less than RMB 10 on the shelves. The reporter entered the pharmacy and the sales staff enthusiastically asked and recommended drugs, but the price was not cheap.

However, the reporter pointed out that when purchasing a certain kind of medicine, the shopping guides will use the lesser effect as a reason to persuade reporters to purchase recommended drugs. The reporter noticed that higher-priced imported or joint-venture drugs are placed on conspicuous positions on the shelves, while drugs with relatively low prices are placed in the corners. It is hard to find them without paying attention or asking questions.

Qiu Wenwen said that the selection of family standing drugs should be based on application rather than price as the primary criterion. “It's okay to prepare some medicines for common diseases, but you should be cautious about using them. If you buy medicine yourself, you should pick a big brand and start using the minimum effective dose. If problems arise, they should be stopped in time and seek medical advice.”