The Chinese government announced price cuts for 32 Traditional Chinese Medicines to reduce financial medical burdens on the general public.
The National Development and Reform Commission will adjust prices of 32 finished TCMs for the treatment of cancers, involving 117 specifications.
"All the 32 medicines are commonly used cancer treatments in hospitals," Kao Yuping, the chief pharmacist from Shaanxi Provincial TCM Hospital, said. The new drug price caps will be implemented starting Nov. 20 and all medical institutions are not allowed to add more than a 15 percent surcharge over the purchasing prices of these medicines, according to the notice.
Prices of most of the medicines will be reduced except quality; market- leading products from some drug manufacturers will remain higher than equivalent generics, according to the notice. For example, the price cap of Compound Mylabris Capsules by Guizhou Yibai Pharmaceutical Ltd. is RMB 180 ($22.5), which is 19 percent higher than RMB 151 ($18.88) for generic Compound Mylabris Capsules with the same specifications.
This is third time this year the commission has cut drug prices. In June, price cuts of 67 anti-tumor drugs resulted in losses for manufacturers amountin to RMB 2.3 billion ($287.5 million), according to government figures. "The price cuts do not affect hospitals greatly," Kao said. This is because the price caps are greater than the retail prices for some of the medicines at the Shaanxi Provincial TCM Hospital due to the implementation of drug bidding procurement system, Kao said.
The commission has requested provincial price departments to report the prices of drugs whose retail prices are much lower than the government-stipulated caps.
"More measures will be adopted to reduce the prices," the NDRC said in a statement. The commission also said that it would adopt the lowest price as the price cap for a quality drug or a drug produced by only one drug maker if price differences are greater than 5 percent in different regions.
At present, reducing drug prices is regarded as an important measure to reduce financial medical burdens of many Chinese citizens. In August, the commission slashed prices with an average reduction rate of 30 percent of more than 400 preparations, which affected 100 types of anti-microbial drugs.
More price adjustments to several hundred TCMs and chemical drugs will be made before the end of this year, a NDRC official said earlier this month.
Source:佚名