BEIJING: China will add 126 drugs to a revised national basic medical insurance list, with a focus on novel medications and rare disease therapies, the National Healthcare Security Administration said on Wednesday.
Newly added products will include 21 anti-cancer drugs, 17 antivirals or anti-COVID medicines, 15 drugs for treating diabetes, mental disorders, rheumatism and other chronic diseases, and 15 drugs targeting rare diseases, the administration said at a news conference.
One drug will be removed from the list as it is about to be taken off the market, according to the administration. The new list, which will come into effect on Jan 1, will include 3,088 drugs in total.
Among the newly included drugs, 121 are being added after successful negotiations with manufacturers, with their prices cut on average by 61.7 percent.
Patients are expected to save 40 billion yuan ($5.6 billion) in the next two years thanks to price negotiations and reimbursement policies, according to the administration. Huang Xinyu, head of the administration’s medical services management department, said that the national insurance drug list has been updated each of the past six years, with 744 drugs added during that period.
The proportion of added new drugs — those making the list within five years after gaining market approval — during each adjustment has risen from 32 percent in 2019 to 97.6 percent, he said. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
