Zhitong Financial APP learned that with the full liberalization of the prevention and control of the epidemic, the number of infections across the country skyrocketed, once setting off a "rush to buy acetaminophen antipyretic drugs." Recently, the joint prevention and control mechanism of the State Council issued guidelines for home treatment of COVID-19 infection and references for commonly used drugs, listing commonly used drugs according to seven symptoms such as fever, dry pharynx and pharyngitis, cough and sputum, among which acetaminophen was included as a drug for fever. 000597.SZ has four boards in six days, 002728.SZ has risen 1.05 times in the past two months, 000756.SZ has risen more than 80 per cent so far in December, and 603599.SH has risen nearly 20 per cent since October.
According to statistics, China now consumes 400 million ibuprofen a day. At present, JD.com and Meituan's drug purchase platform found that some pharmacies showed suspension of business, and some drugs such as ibuprofen, acetaminophen tablets, and Lianhua Qingfei syrup, which could be delivered to merchants in 2-4 days, were all out of stock. Similar cold and fever drugs such as vitamin C Yinqiao tablets and Chuanbei Qingfei syrup were also snapped up.
Driven by the surge in sales of antipyretic and analgesic drugs, the demand for upstream related APIs and intermediates is expected to increase rapidly. P-aminophenol is an important intermediate for the synthesis of antipyretic and analgesic drugs such as paracetamol. The demand has been strong since the epidemic of COVID-19 in 2020, and the operating rate reached 91.3% in 2020, the best level in many years. Analysts pointed out that the global development of acetaminophen and other drugs, especially in Asia and other countries, is still the main driver of the growth of p-aminophenol, and will continue to grow in the future. The cost advantage of p-aminophenol in China is obvious, and the export volume has increased rapidly in recent years. With the rapid release of domestic downstream demand and the growth of exports, industrial chain companies are expected to benefit.
News has been released in many places across the country that since December 20, retail pharmacies have continued to provide removable sales of antipyretic drugs. In order to further alleviate the shortage of ibuprofen supply in China, a number of pharmaceutical companies have joined the urgent production of antipyretic drugs. It is reported that many ibuprofen production lines are at full capacity and rotate 24 hours a day. The person in charge of Zhejiang Kangenbei Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. said that at the present stage, the enterprise's daily output of ibuprofen is gradually increasing to 34000 boxes, and is expected to reach 120000 boxes per day by mid-late January. Various survey data show that the API production capacity of ibuprofen in China is relatively sufficient and can meet the needs of domestic preparation production. However, due to the large domestic population base and increased market demand for products, it is only for a while that it is difficult to supply, and it is believed that it will improve soon.
China's State Administration of Market Supervision and Administration held a special press conference on the 20th to stabilize the price and ensure the quality of epidemic-related drugs and medical supplies. At present, there are 194 kinds of antipyretic, antitussive, antibacterial and antiviral drugs on the market in China, involving more than 9000 approval numbers, according to Huang Guo, deputy director of the State Drug Administration of China. According to the data of enterprise annual report in 2021, there are 446 valid documents of ibuprofen, of which 104 are in production in 2021, and 986 are effective documents of acetaminophen, of which 111 are in production in 2021. With the coordination and support of relevant departments, at presentThese two varieties of in-production preparation enterprises are gradually releasing production capacity.
In addition, from the investigation of some enterprises, the raw material drug production of ibuprofen and acetaminophen in China is relatively sufficient and can meet the demand of domestic preparation production. For example, the annual output of ibuprofen raw materials of Shandong Xinhua Pharmaceutical can reach 8000 tons, far exceeding the total demand of the domestic market in previous years; Shandong Anqiuluan Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. has an annual production capacity of nearly 30, 000 tons of acetaminophen, which is about twice the total demand of the domestic market in previous years.
Recently, netizens in Shenyang posted a video on social media, saying that they had bought acetaminophen tablets made by Northeast Pharmaceutical for 2 yuan and 20 tablets, which were cheap and did not increase the price. This news detonated the whole network, also pushed the northeast pharmaceutical onto the Weibo Corp hot search list, netizens have evaluated it as a conscience drug company. On December 19, Northeast Pharmaceutical rose by the limit of "one". By the close of trading on December 20, Northeast Pharmaceutical had risen 21.13% in two trading days.
Minsheng Securities said that from the perspective of industry fundamentals, the production capacity of domestic acetaminophen raw materials is the first in the world, and the supply flexibility of preparation manufacturers is sufficient. At present, the price of acetaminophen has increased after December, but the overall growth rate is still relatively stable. Due to the adequate supply of domestic production capacity, the short-term demand gap has not been fully reflected in the price of APIs.
Related concept stocks:
Northeast Pharmaceutical (000597.SZ): with the recent increase in consumer demand for antipyretic and analgesic drugs, Northeast Pharmaceutical has optimized its production organization model and is now doubling its production capacity. In addition to acetaminophen tablets, Northeast Pharmaceutical also produces epidemic prevention-related drugs such as compound paracetamol and amantadine amine tablets, vitamin C tablets and vitamin C chewable tablets. at present, the company is stepping up the production of vitamin C series preparation products according to market demand to ensure market supply.
002728.SZ: recently signed "entrusting Agreement on Pharmacodynamic Mechanism and material basic Research of Zhikebao tablet in the treatment of cough and Pulmonary inflammation after Influenza virus infection" with Guangzhou Respiratory Health Research Institute, aiming to study the pharmacodynamic mechanism and material basis of Zhikebao tablet in the treatment of cough and pulmonary inflammation after influenza virus infection. Increase its indications for airway inflammation, cough and increased sputum caused by respiratory virus infection, and enrich the efficacy of the product.
Xinhua Pharmaceutical (000756.SZ): the largest integrated manufacturer of ibuprofen raw materials and preparations in China, Xinhua Pharmaceutical gives full play to the responsibilities of state-owned enterprises. Under the supervision of the sixth working group of the Joint Prevention and Control Medical material support Group of the State Council, and with the assistance of provincial and municipal industrial letters and drug supervision departments, the company's three major production bases have more than 1000 employees working in three shifts to maximize production capacity. At present, Shandong is vigorously promoting the expansion of epidemic prevention and treatment drugs to increase production. Shandong Xinhua Pharmaceutical's ibuprofen raw materials and preparations have been produced at full capacity. The daily production capacity of Shandong antigen detection reagents will be increased by 1.5 times in January next year, and the production capacity of Xuanfei Baidu granule, one of the "three drugs," will be doubled in January next year.
Guangxin Co., Ltd. (603599.SH): the actual production capacity of p-aminophenol products is 18000 tons / year, which is produced by the subsidiary Liaoning Shixing Pharmaceutical and Chemical Co., Ltd. Another 40,000 tons / year p-aminophenol is under construction by Anhui Dongzhi Guangxin Agrochemical Co., Ltd.