Southern daily: price negotiation is hard-won progress

May 30, 2016

Source: People's Daily

On May 20, national health development planning commission released the first batch of drug price negotiations as a result, the treatment of chronic diseases such as hepatitis b three best-selling life-saving medicine decline reached 67%, 54% and 54%, respectively.

The reason why we often speak of "expensive", see a doctor expensive, a large part of the reason is that "high price". Published as the result of tenofovir ester, as the world health organization and Chinese chronic hepatitis b prevention and treatment guidelines recommend the first-line treatment of chronic hepatitis b oral drugs, before this month is expended about 1500 yuan, after talks fell to 490 yuan. Considering our country and the number of patients with lung cancer patients with chronic hepatitis b (2015 national health development planning commission, according to data reported hepatitis b carriers in China about 90 million people) can understand that, "just" three kinds of drug price reduction has very important significance.

"Price expensive" has a long history, in the past, people tend to think of excessively high price attributable to lack of governmental price fixing, even thought the government to issue an executive order to "unity" lower drug prices. Obviously, the problem is not so simple. Big drug firms need to pay for themselves, although there are laws heavily fortified, but in order to gain maximum profits, drug firms tend to production of new drugs, expensive medicine. Drug firms to limit orders, although darling price cuts, but more likely will drugs moderately modified to apply for "new drug". In this way, "price" of the old medicine exit the market gradually, and was a new and expensive medicines are continuously emerging.

Drugs are not common goods, cannot leave the government timely intervention, to guide, but the administrative instruction is not everything, if can use opportunely economic laws, or "four two dial one thousand jins" to resolve the dilemma. Substantive progress was made in price negotiations, the key is related department adopted the "price of quantity for" "in health care in drug prices" and other new methods. The lower the price and don't damage the interests of drug companies. With quantity in price, is through the government collective procurement, agglomeration effect of "quantity" to make up for the lower drug prices after the balance. In health care in drug prices, refers to the medicine into the medical insurance directory, associated with health care medicine channels. Because of excessively high price of many drugs are, in addition to good curative effect and other objective factors, but because they are mostly "patent medicine", "monopoly" in the patent protection period, once the end of the protection, they also face fierce competition. If you can include medical insurance directory, can timely training user base, enhance the user viscosity, undoubtedly conducive to its long-term development. So, the country's price negotiation is not so much a negotiation, than a cooperation.

Drug negotiations every result is hard-won progress, about ten million people's life and health. And negotiation system itself is also an integral part of the reform of medical system engineering, in the process of reform, the system itself will continue to development, to overcome all kinds of problems.

(on May 27, from the southern daily, originally titled the national price negotiations is hard-won progress)