China releases draft reimbursement guidance
China's newly released draft guidance for its revised National Reimbursement Drug List will emphasize clinical benefit as a criterion for inclusion of new drugs, and will introduce measures to increase the list's flexibility, according to a note from Goldman Sachs analyst Richard Yeh.
Along with clinical benefit, the draft document emphasized addressing unmet medical needs and prior inclusion on provincial reimbursement lists as inclusion criteria, Yeh wrote. Priority consideration will be given to HBV drug Viread tenofovir disoproxil fumarate and cancer therapies Iressa gefitinib and Conmana icotinib, in return for deep discounts their manufacturers promised in May. Yeh said "patented and higher-priced drugs" will be subject to additional price negotiations before reimbursement is granted (see BioCentury Extra, May 20). ...