The office of the state council recently issued opinions on sound drug price formation mechanisms, which provide “guidelines” for drug prices. On 15 april, the press office of the state council held a routine policy briefing on the full cycle, the full channel and the mechanism for price formation of drugs in the field。
The deputy director general of the national health insurance agency, shi zhihai, stated that, since june 2015, the remaining drugs, except for narcotic drugs and type i psychotropic substances, had been depriced by the government, market-adjusted prices had been introduced, independently priced by enterprises in combination with clinical values, market demand and supply, social affordability, etc., and the actual transaction prices had been made mainly through market competition. The opinion has always adhered to the principle of effective markets and a combination of government, clarifying the direction of market-led reforms, while emphasizing a better role for the government to guarantee the sound functioning of effective markets。
The price of medicines as a special human necessity involves a complex pattern of benefits: on the one hand, it is necessary to optimize the allocation of resources through markets, balance the interests of all and prevent market failures; on the other hand, there is a high technical threshold for pharmaceutical professions and information asymmetries, and governments must take the initiative to fill the gap in order to ensure the well-being of the population。
Zhihai stated that it was in the interests of the people, industrial development, high government governance, the scientific grasp of the relationship between the market and government, dynamism and order, efficiency and equity in the field of medicines, the adherence to market-led drug price formation mechanisms, and the role of government as a platform for development, norm-setting and governance to achieve “live and manage”, the effective maintenance of market order and the repair of market failures。
The opinion proposes a reform package to guide the sound pricing of medicines, regulate price order and coordinate governance. For example, the opinion suggests that “promoting a reference formulation, a generic drug, reflects a reasonably price gradient”, which is officially recognized as a control drug for generic drug consistency evaluation, most of which is relatively familiar. The generic drug is a generic drug that is commonly understood as a generic drug. It is common practice at the international level to promote differential price gradients between reference agents and generic medicines, both to support innovative research and development and to promote a relatively balanced price of the same type of medicines produced by different enterprises。
Moreover, the opinion suggests that “implementing intelligence surveillance of drug prices” and “enforcing early warning of drug price risks” are primarily based on a national networked list of drug prices, and that “red and yellow labels” are used for medicines that are clearly overpriced on provincial medical procurement platforms, not to oblige medical institutions not to purchase these high-priced medicines, but rather to break the information gap, alert medical institutions to price risks and direct them to the purchase of high-quality and affordable medicines, thereby leading to reasonable pricing by enterprises。
