A total of 316 commonly used medications have been included in the 1st to 8th batches of the national centralized procurement of drugs, and the bidding for the continuation of the procurement has started. Companies are actively participating.

On February 9, 2026, the new round of national centralized procurement of drugs for batches 1-8 resulted in the proposed selection results being released. This re-procurement involves 316 commonly used drugs from batches 1-8 of national centralized procurement, covering 26 treatment areas including anti-infection, anti-tumor, blood sugar reduction, blood pressure reduction, lipid reduction, nervous system, respiratory system, digestive system, etc. 51,000 medical institutions nationwide participated in the bidding, with 4,623 products from 1,091 domestic and foreign enterprises participating in the bidding, and 4,163 products from 1,020 enterprises qualified for selection. This re-procurement is the first nationwide unified re-procurement of chemical drugs organized by the state, jointly led by the medical insurance bureaus of Jiangsu, Henan, and Guangdong provinces. All provinces participated, achieving standardized procurement rules. Enterprises only need to bid online once, and if selected, they can sell nationwide, greatly reducing bidding costs. The main features include: first, high participation enthusiasm from enterprises and a diverse selection of selected products. The vast majority of eligible enterprises participated in bidding, with an overall selection rate of 93%. On average, 14 enterprises were selected for each variety, providing diverse market supplies and clinical choices. Second, a high matching rate of clinical needs, ensuring overall stability in patient drug use. This re-procurement is conducted based on brand bidding, and preliminary statistics show that the brand matching rate reported by medical institutions reached 88%. The vast majority of previously selected products continue to be selected, with a selection rate of 98%, preventing drug substitution. Third, higher qualifications for bidding, with stricter quality requirements. In addition to requiring bidding drugs to be reference formulations or pass consistency evaluations in quality and efficacy, related enterprises are further required to have production experience for similar drugs and no violations in drug production quality management within the past 2 years to prevent quality risks due to lack of production experience and enhance the stability and reliability of selected drugs. Fourth, clearer selection expectations reflecting an anti-"winner-takes-all" direction. This re-procurement uses an inquiry method based on past selection prices to form the highest effective declared price and inquiry baseline, allowing enterprises to accurately calculate cost benefits, make rational bids, and have clear selection and volume expectations, achieving stable selection prices and industry expectations. The selected results of this re-procurement are expected to be implemented by the end of March 2026, with the procurement cycle ending in 2028. A longer procurement cycle can benefit patients continuously, bring stable production and sales expectations to the industry, and further consolidate the achievements of national drug centralized procurement. This article is excerpted from "National Medical Insurance Bureau", GMTEight editor: Li Fo.