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 Under the new policy announced by the price
regulator, over 500 drugs considered to be essential for public
health will now be officially classified as "low-priced" drugs and
sold for standard rates. Prices will be capped at 3 yuan ($0.48) per
daily dosage for Western drugs, and 5 yuan for traditional Chinese
medicine.
Previously, China set individual price caps for over 2,000 drugs
covered by national health insurance.
"Compared with high-priced drugs, the profitability of cheap
medicine is low, which limits the (drugmakers') ability to absorb
rising costs," the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC)
said in a statement posted on its website on Thursday.
As a result, there had been shortages of low-priced drugs after
drugmakers had become less willing to produce them, it said.
Last year, the NDRC launched an investigation over costs and pricing
at Chinese and foreign pharmaceuticals firms. Industry executives
have said this was a part of Beijing's move to analyze the
difference in prices of imported products sold by foreign firms in
China compared with those in other markets.
The NDRC has yet to announce the result of this investigation.
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The Shanghai stock exchange's sub-index of healthcare firms was
down 0.2 percent at midday on Friday. Broader indices were down
around 0.3 percent.
($1 = 6.2280 Chinese Yuan)
(Reporting by Kazunori Takada; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)
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