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Public health insurance may cover high-priced medicine

By Qiang Xiaoji (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-03-17 16:46
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The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security will start negotiating with pharmaceutical companies to include some high-priced but therapeutic medicine in the list covered by public health insurance, the 21st Century Business Herald reported on Wednesday.

The first round of negations may start in June and be held between the ministry and pharmaceutical companies, most of them foreign.

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Specialists would recommend some high-priced but clinically needed medicine to the ministry, and the ministry would then negotiate with the pharmaceutical companies to try to bring down the prices so that the medicine can be included in the coverage of public health insurance, said Luo Xinghong of Simcere Pharmaceutical Group.

Currently, the ministry does not accept applications from pharmaceutical companies, Luo said.
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