National Medical Insurance Administration: Promote Inter-Provincial Price Fairness for Drugs with the Same Generic Name and Brand Name
The National Medical Insurance Administration issued a notice on January 5th, titled “Notice on Promoting Fair, Honest, Transparent, and Balanced Inter-Provincial Prices for Drugs with the Same Generic Name and Brand Name,” with the aim of eliminating unfair and discriminatory high prices between provinces for drugs with the same generic names, brands, dosage forms, and specifications by the end of March 2024.
The notice outlined measures to be taken to achieve this goal, including the classification of drug prices listed on the Internet in different regions and the guidance for pharmaceutical companies to proactively adjust unfair and discriminatory high prices. The Administration also emphasized that the prices of conventional drugs listed on the Internet should return to the price monitored by the Internet or below, and drugs selected for centralized procurement organized by the state in supplying provinces should be unified to the selected prices for centralized procurement.
Furthermore, the notice highlighted the implementation of national unified medical insurance payment standards for medical insurance negotiations or bidding drugs and the suspension of certain application acceptance processes in order to maintain the stability of the drug market price order and prevent illegal activities such as market price manipulation.
The purpose of these measures is to promote fair and honest price behavior among pharmaceutical companies and to ensure that the prices of drugs with the same generic name and brand name are consistent across different provinces.
These efforts are expected to contribute to the overall fairness and transparency of drug pricing, benefiting consumers, medical institutions, and the pharmaceutical industry as a whole.
For more information or cooperation, please follow the official WeChat of China Economic Net (name: China Economic Net, id: ourcecn).