Boost for centralized joint purchase of ready-made Chinese medicines

The national ready-made Chinese medicine joint procurement office has been set up, with the first batch of medicines for centralized purchase including 16 drugs that are in high clinical demand.

The office comprises representatives from multiple provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. It will represent medical facilities in these regions to carry out centralized purchase of ready-made Chinese medicines, under the guidance of the National Healthcare Security Administration, according to CCTV.

The Healthcare Security Administration of central China's Hubei Province will be responsible for the office's daily operation.

The 16 medicines on the central procurement list are mainly used for chronic and common diseases, such as Guanxinning tablet, which can promote blood circulation for people with coronary disease, and Huachansu, or Cinobufotalin, which can relieve pain and swelling for patients with tumor or chronic hepatitis B.

The purchase period is two years.

A trial launched by Hubei with 19 provincial regions last year conducted ready-made joint purchase of 111 Chinese medicine products from 97 companies. It was the nation's first such purchase, which helped save at least 2.6 billion yuan (US$374 million) in medical costs. The average price reduction for the 111 products was 42 percent, with the largest reduction of 83 percent.