Drug price reform will 'improve services'

China's top pricing regulator launched a new round of drug pricing and healthcare financing reform on Wednesday in the latest attempt to improve the nation's public healthcare system.

The pricing reform is expected by the end of 2020, by which time financing of all public hospitals will mainly depend on healthcare services and government compensation, rather than markups of drug prices, according to a guideline issued by the National Development and Reform Commission.

"The 15 percent markup that hospitals add on drug prices will no longer be a way to finance public hospitals," said Zhu Dezheng, head of the commission's drug pricing division.