Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, December 14 (Xinhua) -- The Economic Information Daily published an article on December 14 titled "The Results of the Adjustment of the 2023 Version of the National Medical Insurance Catalogue of 126 New Drugs Announced". According to the article, on December 13, the National Health Insurance Administration held a press conference to introduce the adjustment of the 2023 National Medical Insurance Drug Catalog. According to reports, after the corresponding procedures, a total of 126 new drugs have been added to the 2023 edition of the medical insurance catalog, including 21 drugs for tumors, 17 drugs for new crown and anti-infection, 15 drugs for chronic diseases such as diabetes, psychiatry, rheumatism and immunity, 15 drugs for rare diseases (among which avatinib tablets are also drugs for tumors), and 59 drugs in other fields. At the same time, 1 drug that is about to be withdrawn from the market was transferred. After this adjustment, the total number of drugs in the catalogue will increase to 3,088, including 1,698 Western medicines and 1,390 Chinese patent medicines, and the level of protection in the fields of chronic diseases, rare diseases, and children's drugs will be further improved.
In the negotiation and bidding process, 143 out-of-catalogue drugs participated, of which 121 were successful in negotiation and bidding, with a success rate of 846%, with an average price reduction of 617%, the success rate and ** decline are basically the same as in 2022. Combined with the dual factors of negotiated price reduction and medical insurance reimbursement, it is expected to reduce the burden on patients by more than 40 billion yuan during the agreement period in the next two years.
Specifically, 15 rare disease drugs in this negotiation and bidding were successfully negotiated, and efforts were made to make up for the gap in the protection of related diseases. In response to the pain point of "unaffordable drugs" for patients with rare diseases, we have taken multiple measures at the same time, lifted the restriction on the number of years of approval for drugs for rare diseases in terms of access conditions for three consecutive years, and clearly tilted them in the review and calculation links, and supported the priority of eligible drugs for rare diseases to be included in medical insurance. It is reported that the rare disease drug covers 16 rare disease diseases, filling the gap in the drug protection of 10 diseases.
Long Xuewen, deputy director of the Medical Insurance Center of the National Health Insurance Administration, introduced that the new version of the medical insurance catalog will be implemented on January 1, 2024. The provincial medical insurance agencies will make arrangements according to the time target, invert the timetable, formulate a roadmap, urge the designated medical institutions to be equipped with relevant drugs as soon as possible, and do a good job in the transformation of the network and information system, so that the new version of the catalog can be implemented as soon as possible, so that the insured people can enjoy the newly added new drugs and good drugs as soon as possible.
Chen Wen, dean of the School of Public Health of Fudan University and leader of the pharmacoeconomics expert group for the adjustment of the 2023 National Medical Insurance Drug Catalog, said that after 6 rounds of adjustments, a new drug system that is in line with China's national conditions and covers all fields has been initially established.
Taking tumor drugs as an example, before 2017, there was no targeted drug for tumor in the medical insurance catalog, but by 2023, there will be 74 targeted drugs for tumors in this catalog, and many of them have achieved diversified choices of targeted drugs between generations. (Reporter Liang Qian).