Brief introduction of asparagus slices in asparagus slice incident

Asparagus tablets entered the market as quasi-Chinese medicine in 2002, and were exclusively produced by West China Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Sichuan University. Its main components are some substances extracted from fresh asparagus. The instructions show that it can be used as an adjuvant treatment for cancer and can relieve thirst and loss of appetite after chemotherapy. However, according to the investigation of relevant departments, the sales volume of asparagus slices has been very poor for eight years, until recently, it was only concentrated in a few provinces such as Hunan and Sichuan, and most areas never even won the bid for sales. The annual sales can only be barely maintained at 100. The low clinical acceptance and limited usage reflect its value in cancer treatment from one side. According to relevant sources, asparagus slices are only included in the scope of medical insurance reimbursement in Hunan Province, and are priced by Hunan Provincial Price Bureau. Other fields belong to market regulation, and enterprises set their own prices. In order to reduce the artificially high drug price, in recent years, bidding procurement has been carried out everywhere, and only through centralized bidding procurement can it finally enter the hospital for sale. Hunan said that asparagus slices were illegally sold online in Hunan. However, in other bidding purchases that meet the requirements, the reporter found that the bid-winning prices are also surprisingly high, among which the bid-winning prices of Heilongjiang, Hubei and Henan are 160 yuan, 133 yuan and 107 yuan respectively. This shows that bidding and procurement have little effect on these high prices determined by enterprises themselves. Manufacturers collude with hospitals, and they can still easily bypass the inflated pricing of bidding and procurement. Are local drug bidding and purchasing institutions not really performing their duties?