Presentation (CTI)

OBJECTIVES: The national negotiation of medicine prices for medical insurance has significantly innovated recent years' inclusion of medicines in the medical insurance catalog, enhancing patient access to innovative medications and reducing disease burdens through price reductions.This study aims to provide practical policy recommendations to balance the equitable access to innovative medicines and strengthen the strategic purchasing of medical insurance funds by offering quantitative data.
METHODS: This study utilizes national procurement data for all public medical institutions across 31 provinces in China. The focus is on 54 anticancer medicines successfully negotiated into the medical insurance catalog in 2021. The study period spans from September 2019 to December 2022. We analyze the distribution, usage, and changes of these nationally negotiated anticancer medicines across provinces.
RESULTS: Analysis results indicate a nationwide upward trend in the availability of nationally negotiated anticancer medicines. In 2019, the average number of available medicine varieties was 19 (35.2%), which increased to 45 (84.3%) by 2022, achieving an average annual growth rate of 16.37%. The eastern and northern regions emerged as top performers: the eastern region surged from 42.13% to 95.48% (17.78% annual growth), while the northern region achieved a remarkable 56.57% increase at an 18.86% annual rate. Despite starting from the lowest baseline (26.11% in 2019), the northwestern region progressed to 78.64% with 17.51% annual growth. In contrast, the southwestern (28.06% to 69.04%, 13.66% annual growth) exhibited slower momentum. Notably, geographic disparities persist over time: the eastern-southwestern disparity expanded from 14.07% to 26.44%.
CONCLUSIONS: National negotiated anticancer medicines availability has shown an overall upward trend across China. However, the existing geographic disparities of availability was increasing to be noteworthy.