China to cut drug prices by up to 20%
Hannah Blake
pharmaphorum
China has announced it will decrease the prices of medicines by an average of 15% in an attempt to reduce healthcare costs in the nation and in turn, reducing the burden on patients. Some of the most expensive drugs will endure a price cut as high as 20%.
The National Development and Reform Commission issued a notice announcing this price cut, which will involve a total of 20 drug categories, including respiratory and pain relief as well as specialty drugs, and over 400 drug varieties. Drugs from global pharmaceutical companies Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis are included on the list.
This price cut will be China’s fourth since 2011 and is part of reforms that began in the early 2000s to make healthcare cheaper and more accessible.
Related news:
China to cut prices of more than 400 drugs from February (Reuters)
China to Cut Prices of More Than 400 Drugs by Average 15% (Bloomberg)
Reference links:
China’s National Development and Reform Commission press release
 ,
