The State Accelerated Drug Pricing and Regulated Drug Price New Deal One by One

The business club reported on December 27th that “ascendant” asparagus tablets, medicines newly entered into the National Health Insurance Catalogue, have quietly increased their prices. The phenomenon of high drug prices that occurred frequently in 2010 has accelerated the efforts of the National Development and Reform Commission to rectify drug prices. In June, the Development and Reform Commission promulgated the Measures for the Administration of Drug Prices (Draft for Soliciting Opinions), which imposes the highest limit on the spread rate of drug distribution. In November, the National Development and Reform Commission issued the “Notice on Reducing the Maximum Retail Price of Some Ceftriaxone and Other Drugs” since 2000. For the first time, the price of foreign drugs has been “opened”. The information passed out by the document indicates that the NDRC's drug pricing ideas are being adjusted, and the government may in the future strengthen the accounting of the cost of drug pricing.

On March 5th, the National Development and Reform Commission adjusted the "National Development and Reform Commission Pricing Drug List" (implemented from April 1st). It was adjusted from 1,561 species in 2005 to 1,917, and 565 drugs were included in the local pricing range. There are more than 300 kinds of finished medicines, most of them are antibiotics, and the prices of drugs priced by the government specified in the new “price list” have increased slightly, and prices of some special Chinese patent medicines containing natural medicinal materials have become more flexible.

In June, the National Development and Reform Commission issued the "Measures for the Administration of Drug Price (Draft for Comment)". This is the first time since 2000 that the country has attempted to adjust the price of medicines. The "Measures" clearly erased the reference to "original research drug" and "separate pricing," and demanded that the original research drug be periodically reduced in price. The industry generally believes that once the new Drug Price Management Measures are introduced, it will have a profound impact on the pharmaceutical distribution industry.

On November 29, the National Development and Reform Commission issued the "Notice on Reducing the Maximum Retail Price of Some Drugs, such as Ceftriaxone." The notice stipulates that from December 12 onwards, 174 medicines of 17 categories, including antibiotics, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, will be involved. For the first time, high-priced, foreign-fundamental essential drugs have suffered a full-scale policy strike.