China to further develop centralized drug procurement

Centralized drug procurement should guarantee a reasonable selection of medicines to meet people’s demand with a high-quality and sufficient supply, according to a circular issued on Jan 28 by the General Office of the State Council.

The circular called for transparent and fair market competition among enterprises, stressing policies in medicine quality inspection, the production, supply and distribution of medicines, medical services, medical insurance payment and market supervision.

Medicines frequently used on the national drug reimbursement list with high procurement amounts should be included, and a stable supply of rare drugs is required.

Suppliers must ensure medicines’ quality and supply in the procurement, and all public health institutions are required to participate.

The purchase amount will be mainly decided by the demand of medical institutions and modified according to the previous year's consumption, clinical feedback and progress in medical technology, the circular stated.

Selection rules should be optimized to pick out enterprises based on market competition and supply capacity for scale effect and effective competition.

To ensure quality, selected drugs should be listed for major supervision, and the full-process tracing system from production to distribution and application should be built at a faster pace.

The circular asked enterprises to keep an eye on market risks and take measures to meet requirements for selected drugs in the procurement cycle.

Medical institutions should prioritize using selected drugs and purchase amount as required by contracts.

According to the circular, information concerning medical insurance, medicine supply management, citizen’s health and credit can be shared among related platforms.

The centralized drug procurement management institute in Shanghai will undertake the daily work of the national office of joint medicine procurement.