National Insurance list gets 70 extra drugs

A total of 70 new drugs will be included in China’s national medical insurance catalog with their prices slashed by 60.7 percent on average, the National Healthcare Security Administration said on Thursday.

Eight domestically produced drugs that are seen as “major innovations” and have just hit the market in recent years are among the new additions.

Some 22 anti-cancer drugs, seven drugs for rare diseases, 14 for chronic diseases and four for children will be included in the catalog, and the prices of three new drugs for hepatitis C will be reduced by an average of 85 percent, according to the NHSA.

Most of the additions are new drugs of high clinical value that can be used to treat multiple diseases including cancer, diabetes and tuberculosis, and the prices of most imported drugs will be set at the lowest in the world, said Xiong Xianjun, a senior NHSA official.

After the price reduction and medical insurance reimbursements, the financial burden on patients will be eased by over 80 percent.

The additions are part of the first adjustments to the catalog since the NHSA was established in 2018.