Chinese Public Healthcare Insurance Official Defends Steep Drug Price Cuts

China’s National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA) seems determined to require pharma firms to comply with the agency’s request to cap the prices of innovative drugs, according to a senior official directly involved in annual price negotiations.

NHSA spending on novel drugs
China's NHSA expects drug makers to have a rough estimate of discounts needed for NRDL inclusion • Source: Shutterstock

In the run-up to China’s annual drug price talks, scheduled for November in an update to the National Reimbursement Drug List (NRDL), a senior official at the National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA) made a rare public appearance to defend the agency’s tough price-cutting stance, which could dampen pharma companies’ hopes of negotiating a premium for their innovative drugs.

The NHSA, which oversees the negotiation process, expects all drug makers to have a rough set of estimates on how...

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