Tong Ren Tang's An Gong Niu Huang Wan Becomes a "Zombie Product," Long-Term Trading Absence Results in "Network Delisting" in Two Provinces, with Some Local Hospital Procurement Prices 3 Times Higher Than Pharmacy Retail Prices

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Star Capital Bureau, March 16 — Recently, the provinces of Shandong and Shanxi issued notices to clean up drugs in the “inactive zone” within the centralized drug procurement system, involving popular traditional Chinese medicines like An Gong Niu Huang Wan from Beijing Tong Ren Tang.

Star Capital Bureau has noted that most sales of brands like An Gong Niu Huang Wan occur outside hospitals. In January, the Jilin Provincial Public Resources Trading Center officially released a notice on verifying the prices of major retail drugs in pharmacies and other retail channels, showing that the hospital procurement listing price for Beijing Tong Ren Tang’s An Gong Niu Huang Wan is about four times the pharmacy price.

On March 16, regarding the cancellation of the drug’s listing, Star Capital Bureau contacted related companies Tong Ren Tang Technologies (1666.HK) and Darentang (600329.SH) for information. As of press time, no response has been received.

Screenshot from Beijing Tong Ren Tang official website

Shandong and Shanxi clean up “inactive” drugs

Popular Chinese medicines like An Gong Niu Huang Wan are removed from the listing

According to an announcement from the Shandong Provincial Drug and Medical Device Centralized Procurement Platform at the end of February, drugs in the “inactive zone” will be uniformly suspended from listing on March 25. Before that, medical institutions with existing delivery orders can automatically transfer to the active zone. The announcement states that if medical institutions have procurement needs, companies can apply to restore the listing at any time. However, if there are no transactions for a month after restoration, the listing will be suspended again.

Screenshot from Shandong Provincial Drug and Medical Device Centralized Procurement Platform

On March 5, the Shanxi Provincial Drug and Medical Device Centralized Bidding and Procurement Center issued a notice on the withdrawal of certain companies’ drug platform listing qualifications, involving 47 pharmaceutical manufacturing and operating companies and 118 drugs. The notice states that products withdrawn from the listing will not be accepted for listing again within two years.

Notably, the list published by Shanxi’s procurement center includes popular Chinese medicines like An Gong Niu Huang Wan (each pill weighing 3g; National Medicine Standard Z11020193) produced by Beijing Tong Ren Tang Technology Development Co., Ltd., and Xihuang Wan (each 20 pills weighing 1g; National Medicine Standard Z12020545) from Le Ren Tang Pharmaceutical Factory of Tianjin Pharmaceutical Group. The reasons for withdrawal are all due to being in the “inactive zone” and canceled from the listing.

Star Capital Bureau has noted that the National Healthcare Security Administration’s 2023 notice on implementing information connectivity and promoting drug listing price regulation clearly states that drugs with no actual procurement record for two consecutive years will be transferred to the “inactive zone.” They will not be displayed on the platform front end and generally will not be used as a basis for price linkage, aiming to optimize listing structure, ensure supply authenticity, and purify price data.

According to the People’s Daily Health Client, Huang Xiuxiang, former secretary-general of the Hunan Pharmaceutical Circulation Industry Association, said in an interview, “The procurement platform should streamline the catalog and ensure that listed drugs have real clinical demand and reasonable prices. This can prevent ‘zombie’ drugs from interfering with benchmark price calculations and wasting resources. More provinces are expected to follow suit.”

“Many drugs, especially branded Chinese medicines, mainly target the outside hospital market, with outside sales accounting for over 80%. Companies list drugs to retain ‘entry tickets’ for public hospitals, often pricing high intentionally, selectively not supplying hospitals at listed prices, and due to hospital payment pressures, leading to long-term ‘zombie’ status for these drugs,” Huang Xiuxiang explained.

One province’s listing price is 398 yuan, three times the 98 yuan pharmacy price

Stunning price difference for Tong Ren Tang’s An Gong Niu Huang Wan

Star Capital Bureau learned that after the listing is canceled, public hospitals can no longer place orders for the withdrawn drugs through the official provincial procurement platform, cutting off supply from official channels. However, brands like An Gong Niu Huang Wan mostly sell outside hospitals.

For example, according to Mi Nei Wang data, in 2023, its market size across three major channels (physical pharmacies, online pharmacies, and hospitals) exceeded 6 billion yuan, consistently ranking first among cardiovascular Chinese medicines. Offline physical pharmacy sales amounted to about 5.2 billion yuan, accounting for 86.7%, making it the main sales channel, with limited hospital sales.

Among dozens of manufacturers of An Gong Niu Huang Wan, Beijing Tong Ren Tang Technology Development Co., Ltd. holds the largest market share, followed by its major shareholder Beijing Tong Ren Tang Co., Ltd. (600085.SH). Both are subsidiaries of China Beijing Tong Ren Tang (Group) Co., Ltd.

Data from Mo Entang Pharmaceutical shows that from 2019 to the third quarter of 2025, Tong Ren Tang Technology’s market share for An Gong Niu Huang Wan was 29.8%, and Tong Ren Tang’s was 22.38%, with combined market share reaching 52.18%.

Screenshot from Mo Entang Pharmaceutical data

According to reports from Huaxia Times and other media, in January, the Jilin Provincial Public Resources Trading Center issued a notice on conducting a special review of drugs with significantly higher listed prices than retail prices, including An Gong Niu Huang Wan produced by Beijing Tong Ren Tang Co., Ltd. The listed price is 398 yuan per pill, while retail prices are only 98 yuan, making the listed price four times higher.

According to Economic Information Daily on March 16, regarding the withdrawal of An Gong Niu Huang Wan from Shanxi’s list, a Tong Ren Tang staff member said, “The drugs withdrawn are the double-natural type of An Gong Niu Huang Wan. Regulations issued in 2024 mean that double-natural types are no longer covered by medical insurance, so they have never been sold in hospitals. The withdrawal has almost no impact on our sales of An Gong Niu Huang Wan.”

(This article does not constitute any investment advice; operate at your own risk.)