Renewing medicine catalogue

Oriental Outlook August 2

China plans to add more anti-cancer drugs to its catalogue for medical insurance reimbursement this year. The catalogue has been adjusted before and following the 2017 revision, the present catalogue includes 2,535 categories of medicine, an increase of 15.4 percent compared with the 2009. However, the list must be constantly renewed to adapt to the changing cost of drugs and to ensure that new medicines be included. Industry insiders say that although the price of the catalogued medicine is lowered, relevant pharmaceutical companies may see their profits increase as their sales improve. Higher profits enable pharmaceutical companies to invest more in innovation so as to promote the development of China’s medical science.