Photographer: Mikael Sajoberg / Bloomberg
Photographer: Mikael Sajoberg / Bloomberg
Drug makers from AstraZeneca plc and From GlaxoSmithKline PLC Bejin Limited has agreed to reduce the prices of some of its new drugs in China by an average of 51% to be covered by the country’s national insurance fund.
A total of 119 new treatments for coverage by the National Medical Safety Network after state-run medical safety net negotiations – including treatments for diseases ranging from pulmonary diseases and diabetes to cancer and lupus. Health care The security administration said in a notice Website Monday.
The reduction in the average price is less than 10 percent Last year, relief for domestic and foreign pharmaceutical manufacturers, which have cut their profits under pressure from Beijing to cut health-care costs. Companies are eager to get their list of treatments, even on strict discounts, to gain access to the world’s second largest market for pharmaceuticals.
China strives for the best, cheapest in the world Health care
Chinese patients will have to pay a small portion of the cost of these drugs out of their own pockets as the lion’s share of the bill will be covered by China’s ૨ 4.444 trillion yuan ($ 3.3 billion) national medical insurance fund, which covers more. More than 95% of the country’s 1.4 billion people. The list of drugs covered by the fund has been updated every year since 2017 with new entries, while Beijing has stepped up its campaign to bring new drugs to its growing middle class as quickly and cheaply as possible.
In total, Chinese patients can now take out state insurance to pay for 2,800 drugs. Beijing has also managed to reduce the average of 14 drugs with annual sales of more than 1 billion yuan by more than 40%. The new version of the drug-reimbursement list will take effect on March 1.
Among the drugs that make it to the latest list is AstraZeneca’s cancer therapy Zoladex. Developed by Beijing-based Beijing. Brookinsa, China’s first cancer drug to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration, was also added.
The list is compiled by GlaxoSmithKline, which treats lupus and high-blood pressure in the lungs, respectively. Other top herbs from multinationals were diabetes medicine Novo Nordisk S / A, a drug for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease developed by Astra, and for the treatment of ulcerative colitis Tekda Pharmaceutical Co.
The latest inclusions include PD-1 inhibitors, cancer treatments that use the body’s immune system to fight tumors, as well as popular immune cancer therapies – Beijing’s priority is that there are 4 million new cancer patients annually. Treatments developed by local companies Bezin include, Jiangsu Hangru Medicine Co. and Shanghai Junshi Biosciences Co.
The list also includes treatments for covid-19 such as the antivirals ribavirin and arbidol, although lime contains coronavirus flareups after an outbreak in Wuhan a year ago.
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It is not clear how many cuts each company made for individual treatments. National Health care In the past, the Security Administration has entered into agreements with some drug manufacturers to prevent details of price reductions. Included in the list of missing persons Merck & Co. and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.’s best-selling cancer therapies Kitruda and Dpdivo.
For foreign drug manufacturers, competition in China has made significant sacrifices. New drugs are always brought to market at lower prices than those sold in the West, but still face competition from the growing legion of Chinese biotech companies developing similar drugs that can be sold more. Cheap
The process can also be painful for local companies. Chinese drug maker Simser Pharmaceutical Group said it had agreed to put its newly approved stroke therapy on the compensation list in preparation for a reduction of about 0%, boosting sales due to expanded consumption. Shanghai-based Green Valley Pharmaceuticals said it had participated in price negotiations for its Alzheimer’s disease drug, but had not received compensation status.
Older drugs from global pharmaceutical companies that have been patented are also facing price reductions. In a separate national campaign in which Chinese public hospitals bought generic drugs in bulk, prices were reduced by as much as 90%.
– With the help of John Liu, Claire Che and Dong Liu
(Not listed in the second paragraph, updates with immunotherapy, Chinese companies in the scheduled paragraph)
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