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BEIJING, Nov 30 (Reuters) - China will use its national drug
bulk-buy scheme to lower the price of drugs currently sold at
higher prices compared with other markets, it said in an
official statement.
The move could force international drugmakers to further cut
prices and enable copycat medicines to replace imported
off-patent brands at faster pace.
Many branded versions of drugs are currently more expensive
in China than in other major markets. They could now be
subjected to a centralised procurement program where
manufacturers will have to go through a bidding process to get
the right to supply drugs to public hospitals, the National
Health Commission said in a document published on late Friday.
The bulk-buy program, which currently covers 25 types of
medicines, allows no more than three successful bidders access
to China's public hospitals, where most Chinese people buy their
drugs.
The program caused the price of some drugs to plunge more
than 90% when it was introduced last year in some cities, state
news agency Xinhua said.
Multinational drugmakers usually cut the price of drugs when
they go off-patent and face competition from generic versions,
but such price drops were slow to happen in China, partially
because many local drugmakers were unable to develop
high-quality generic drugs to compete with off-patent branded
drugs.
In the first round of nationwide implement of the program,
in September, multinationals including Sanofi and Eli
Lilly managed to cut some prices low enough to levels
close to those offered by local generic makers.
Beijing will strengthen its monitoring of overseas drug
market and collect global prices for imported medicines,
Friday's guideline said.
The government is leveraging its large patient population to
push non-domestic drugs companies to cut prices to their lowest
level globally.
Most foreign drugmakers offered Beijing the lowest prices
globally in a recent round of negotiations in order to get some
of their new products included in national insurance program, a
move that will help them gain access to more patients in
less-affluent cities, officials said on Thursday.
(Reporting by Roxanne Liu and Brenda Goh)
