The Paper:

In recent years, China's medical insurance system has expanded coverage to include more drugs for chronic and rare diseases. Notably, the inclusion of some extremely expensive drugs has significantly reduced the financial burden on patients. This process has also led to widely publicized negotiations for lower drug prices. Could you talk about the current state of the national medical insurance drug catalog? What are the plans for future developments in this area? Thank you.

Zhang Ke:

Thank you for your questions. Ms. Li will answer this question.

Li Tao:

Thank you for your question. The medical insurance drug catalog defines the range of medications eligible for reimbursement through medical insurance funds. It primarily includes Western medicines, Chinese patent medicines and prepared ready-for-use traditional Chinese medicines. Since its establishment, the NHSA has adhered to the principle of doing everything within our means and has continuously advanced reforms and improved management of the medical insurance drug catalog.

First, we've maintained dynamic adjustments, updating the catalog annually and promptly adding eligible new and improved drugs. This has significantly enhanced both the quantity and quality of medicines in the catalog. Over the past six years, we added 744 new medicines to the catalog. The number of Western medicines and Chinese patent medicines has increased from 2,535 in 2017 to 3,088 today. Simultaneously, the quality of medicines in the catalog has markedly improved. Many drugs based on new therapeutic mechanisms and new targeted drugs have been included, particularly in areas such as treatment of cancer, rare diseases and chronic conditions like hypertension and diabetes. This has achieved a closer match between the drugs covered by the national medical insurance system and clinical demand. 

We have also leveraged the advantages of group purchasing through the medical insurance system to guide new drug prices toward reasonable levels. By implementing strategic purchases based on the integrated drug needs of more than 1.3 billion insured individuals, we've improved the mechanism for medical insurance access negotiations. As a result, many previously expensive drugs have become more affordable, significantly reducing the medical burden on the public. In the six years since the establishment of the NHSA, negotiated drug prices have benefited 720 million insured patients. Factoring in price reductions from negotiations and reimbursements from the national medical insurance system, the financial burden on the public has been eased by over 700 billion yuan.

At the same time, we have also strengthened incentives and guidance to drive innovative development in the pharmaceutical industry. While maintaining a focus on basic needs, we have developed preferential policies for innovative drugs that cover the entire process from enterprise declaration to review, calculation and negotiation. In recent years, many innovative drugs have been included in the catalog the same year they received approval. This rapid inclusion in the medical insurance system, coupled with swift market launches and clinical applications, has enabled enterprises to obtain reasonable returns on innovation. This has created a virtuous cycle of reinvestment and further research and development. The medical insurance system has played an important role in driving the development of new quality productive forces in the pharmaceutical sector.

Moving forward, we will further improve the mechanism for adjusting the national medical insurance drug catalog. While adhering to the principle of meeting people's basic needs, we'll strive to include more, better and newer medicines in the catalog. At the same time, we will also focus on studying and refining the multi-tiered medical security system with Chinese characteristics. This includes broadening payment channels for innovative drugs, aiming to continually meet people's expectations for a better life.

That's all from me. Thank you.