China's ** newspaper reporter Mo Lin.
On March 4, the second meeting of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference will be held in Beijing.
Liang Yingyu, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the managing partner of Qiming Venture Partners, brought a number of proposals related to people's livelihood and industrial development such as medical health, power batteries, and public health. As a well-known venture capitalist in the medical and health field, Liang Yingyu has seven proposals, four of which are related to the medical and biomedical industry and public health.
Leung believes that Hong Kong is already Asia's largest life science investment and financing center, and it should establish an independent approval body for drugs and medical devices as soon as possible, so that mainland pharmaceutical and medical device products can be listed in Hong Kong and internationalized through Hong Kong. At the same time, it is also necessary to integrate the value chain, strengthen the exchange of talents between the two places, and combine Hong Kong's R&D advantages with the mainland's industrial chain advantages, so as to create more possibilities for the implementation of scientific research translation.
In view of the long R&D cycle and insufficient motivation of domestic innovative drugs, she suggested that a number of measures such as establishing a dynamic reimbursement system for innovative drugs and encouraging innovative drugs to accelerate their clinical application should be promoted to promote the listing of more new drugs and serve patients, promote the construction of "Healthy China", and help China transform from a pharmaceutical country to a pharmaceutical power.
Liang Yingyu, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and managing partner of Qiming Venture Partners
Build a biomedical industry
To become a new engine for Hong Kong's innovation-driven development
In Leung's view, Hong Kong brings together the key elements needed for biotechnology development, including a well-developed financial system, a globally connected pharmaceutical system, excellent research, a well-established legal system and an open economic environment. The implementation of the 18C regime of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has also made Hong Kong the largest life science investment and financing center in Asia.
However, affected by factors such as geopolitics and insufficient liquidity under the Federal Reserve's interest rate hike, the Hong Kong ** market was in a state of adjustment for most of the time last year, with trading volume shrinking, and the Hong Kong stock IPO market was also slightly weak. In addition, after the issuance of the Trial Measures for the Administration of Overseas Offerings** and Listings of Domestic Enterprises, Chinese mainland enterprises are required to file for listing and refinancing in Hong Kong, which has delayed many technology and biotechnology companies for nine months or even more than a year to obtain approvals.
According to data from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, among the medical and health companies that submitted listing applications in 2023, 27 were still unlisted as of December 31, 2023, of which 15 were in the listing queue and 12 had expired prospectuses. In order to encourage more mainland enterprises to list and raise funds in Hong Kong, Leung suggested simplifying the rules and procedures for the management of overseas issuance by domestic enterprises, and establishing a green channel for filing for high-quality innovative enterprises, so that enterprises can obtain financing faster. Mainland enterprises are allowed to participate in the IPO process, commonly known as IPO Connect.
In addition to strengthening Hong Kong's position as Asia's largest life science investment and financing hub, Leung also hopes to build the biomedical industry into an important engine for Hong Kong's innovation-driven development.
Therefore, she suggested that the top-level design should be optimized and the policy supply should be strengthened, such as promoting Hong Kong to build a local drug regulatory and new drug approval agency, and accelerating the introduction of R&D enterprises into Hong Kong. Support a number of leading enterprises, innovative enterprises, and major scientific and technological infrastructure construction, and build a rich and efficient industrial ecosystem.
She also suggested strengthening the policy alignment between the two places, streamlining the approval process for mainland enterprises to enter Hong Kong, and improving regulatory efficiency. Encourage more biomedical enterprises to establish a foothold in Hong Kong and set up international headquarters in Hong Kong to face the world. Through various forms such as taxation, settlement, housing, education, and medical care, we will promote the gathering of innovative elements such as biomedical talents, technology and capital. Strengthen industrial co-operation between Hong Kong and the Mainland industrial parks, and achieve coordinated development of upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain.
Leung suggested the establishment of a high-tech talent database between the two places, actively introduce talents to participate in policy research, and strengthen the cooperation and exchange of scientific research talents through measures such as jointly building laboratories and R&D centers. Universities and enterprises can also cooperate to carry out practical teaching activities such as internships and practical training to cultivate diversified talents in the field of biotechnology. At the same time, through R&D support, venture capital support and other measures, we will promote the realization of the value of intellectual property rights and stimulate the innovation vitality of the biomedical industry.
Let innovative drugs serve patients faster and better
Before 2010, China was blank in independent research and development of innovative drugs, and the biomedical industry was incomplete. Over the past decade, the biopharmaceutical-based innovative drug industry has flourished, mainly thanks to the reform of the drug review and approval system in 2015, China's innovative drugs have entered the fast lane.
In Liang Yingyu's view, even after the new drug is approved for marketing, it still faces difficulties such as entering the medical insurance catalog, hospital drug catalog, DTP pharmacy (direct-to-patient pharmacy), and low negotiation, resulting in insufficient accessibility and convenience in use.
In her proposal, she pointed out that there are still a series of "blockages" on the path of innovative drugs from post-marketing to serving patients.
The first is to enter the medical insurance catalog. However, the cost determination of innovative drugs in medical insurance negotiations may not be in line with the actual situation of the industry, for example, there are great differences in the cost of biological drugs in different fields with different degrees of technological innovation. The red line for the annual cost of a drug also precludes a better approach from a clinical value and pharmacoeconomic perspective.
The second is to enter the hospital. In fact, in many public hospitals, only the selected varieties through medical insurance negotiations and national centralized procurement are eligible to participate in the selection of the hospital drug catalogue by the Pharmaceutical Affairs Commission. In some hospitals, the time of the pharmacy meeting is not fixed or it is only opened once for a long time, and the procedures for drug admission are complicated. Hospitals are constrained by hard indicators such as the number of drugs, one product and two regulations, the proportion of drugs, and the average cost of each time.
The third is to enter the DTP pharmacy. Despite the continuous expansion of the "dual-channel" management drug list, the current outflow of in-hospital prescriptions to DTP pharmacies is slower than expected. Some hospitals will even exclude "dual-channel" drugs from the hospital prescription list, resulting in "dual-channel" becoming "single-channel".
In addition, commercial health insurance has not yet fully played its supplementary role in the part not covered by medical insurance.
Therefore, Liang Yingyu suggested that a dynamic reimbursement system for innovative drugs should be established, allowing local medical insurance departments to agree on new drug payment standards with enterprises, without being restricted by fixed reimbursement ratios, protecting the independent pricing rights of enterprises, and exploring other ways other than discounts. In addition, innovative drugs should also be encouraged to accelerate their clinical application, and large hospitals of a certain level should be allowed to independently purchase new drugs that have been approved for marketing without being restricted by indicators such as drug proportion and average cost, and without being restricted by the hospital drug catalog.
In terms of better serving patients, Liang Yingyu suggested actively promoting in-depth cooperation between new specialty drug manufacturers, DTP pharmacies, and hospitals, so that doctors can allow patients to choose to pick up drugs at convenient pharmacies or deliver medicines to their homes when prescribing; For gene and cell-based drugs for diseases that do not yet have effective ** diseases, establish innovative payment methods (such as installment payment, payment according to efficacy, etc.) to reduce the burden of medical insurance and patients.
In order to solve the problem of expensive innovative drugs and heavy burden on patients, Liang Yingyu suggested accelerating the construction of a multi-payment system that is connected with the medical insurance system, so that Huimin Insurance and commercial health insurance can play a greater role.
Editor: Xiaomo Review: Muyu.