National Healthcare Security Administration: Build innovative scenarios such as personal health insurance cloud, imaging cloud, and pathology cloud to increase support for innovative drugs, medical devices, and innovative service projects.

On August 27, the National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA) held a symposium to promote the high-quality development of the pharmaceutical industry during the 14th Five-Year Plan, exchanging views with representatives from various pharmaceutical companies and gathering opinions and suggestions. Representatives from 16 companies including Guangzhou Lu Shizhi Pharmaceutical, Aohong Pharmaceutical, Bayer Pharmaceuticals, Fresenius Kabi, Qilu Pharmaceuticals, Sichuan Kelun Pharmaceutical, SBP GROUP, Betta Pharmaceuticals, CSPC PHARMA, Zhejiang Medicine, UNITED LAB, PHARMDY, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Eisai Pharmaceuticals, AbbVie Pharmaceuticals, and Abbott Pharmaceuticals participated in the symposium, introducing relevant company situations and providing feedback. Zhang Ke, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Director of the NHSA, attended the meeting and delivered a speech. Zhang Ke pointed out that China's healthcare insurance, as the largest strategic purchaser in the domestic pharmaceutical market, spent approximately 13 trillion yuan during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, maintaining a high growth rate and providing a stable source of funding for the high-quality development of the pharmaceutical industry, injecting lasting impetus for sustainable development. During the 14th Five-Year Plan, the healthcare security department will continue to improve the price formation mechanism for pharmaceuticals and consumables, institutionalizing and normalizing centralized bulk procurement of pharmaceuticals, and promote the establishment of a unified national pharmaceutical procurement market to better stimulate market vitality and promote fair competition. Zhang Ke emphasized the need to ensure basic healthcare while also promoting innovation, clearly supporting innovation and differentiated innovation, advancing comprehensive value assessments for healthcare insurance, building innovative scenarios such as personal healthcare insurance cloud, imaging cloud, and pathology cloud, increasing support for innovative drugs and devices as well as innovative service projects, and assisting the pharmaceutical industry in moving towards a high-quality development path driven by innovation. Comprehensive empowerment of the pharmaceutical industrys operational development must be pursued, advancing real-time settlement of healthcare insurance with medical institutions and direct settlement with pharmaceutical companies, effectively utilizing the China Drug Registration System and the international pharmaceutical trading (bulk procurement) platform oriented towards neighboring countries to help companies expand into global markets. Zhang Ke expressed hope that domestic and international pharmaceutical companies would remain confident in the development of China Meheco Group's industry and healthcare insurance, collaboratively ensuring baseline safety, quality assurance, and stable supply, adhering to the path of innovative development, actively embracing the digital intelligence era, enhancing the health and well-being of the public, and contributing to the construction of a global health community. Members of the Party Leadership Group and Deputy Directors Shi Zihai and Li Tao attended the meeting, with relevant officials from the Medical Management Department, Price and Procurement Department, and Price Procurement Center participating. Summary of enterprise representative speeches: Liang Feng, Chairman of Guangzhou Lu Shizhi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.: The national organization of drug centralized procurement uses passing assessment as an important prerequisite for market entry, which will accelerate the exit of non-passed products from the market and compel the industry to hasten the pace of quality upgrades through consistency evaluation. We deeply feel that centralized procurement is not merely a simple price competition, but a survival of the fittest based on quality, serving as a crucial force in transitioning the industry from 'quantity expansion' to 'quality enhancement.' Peng Yuhui, CEO of Jinzhou Aohong Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.: From the success of the 12th batch of centralized procurement involving 10 original research drugs, we truly sense the gradual adjustments and changes in national centralized procurement, which not only effectively managed drug prices but also considered diverse clinical medication needs; promoted quality upgrading of generic drugs while allowing reasonable development space for original research drugs, better supporting pharmaceutical innovation while managing healthcare funds effectively. As an original research drug company, we are prepared: taking advantage of selection for centralized procurement to fulfill our commitment to stabilize clinical services, ensure quality, and maintain supply; continuously focusing on innovation, maintaining R&D investment, striving to bring more high-quality domestic drugs to patients; proactively strengthening multi-party collaboration alongside healthcare insurance, medical services, and commercial insurance to jointly promote the high-quality development of healthcare insurance during the 14th Five-Year Plan. Zhou Xiaolan, President of Bayer Group China: We understand that centralized procurement is not merely a policy but a heavy social responsibility. Collaborating with centralized procurement is not a passive response, but an important pathway to actively integrate into the construction of the national medical security system. Bayer will uphold higher standards for supply quality and stability with a more responsible attitude participating in every round of centralized procurement, ensuring that patients continuously have access to medications and maintain quality. As a leading global pharmaceutical enterprise, Bayer always views cooperation with healthcare reform and service to Chinese patients as the most important starting point for its operations in China. We are willing to actively participate in the strategic purchasing of healthcare insurance and the high-quality development of the pharmaceutical industry, bringing more quality and affordable treatment solutions to Chinese patients and contributing to the construction of a Healthy China. Zhang Wei, President of Fresenius Kabi Investment Co., Ltd. China: Looking towards the 14th Five-Year Plan, we will continue to firmly support healthcare reform, acting as practitioners of healthcare reform and co-builders of the industrial ecosystem. In the coming five years, the enterprise will fully support the normalization and institutionalization of centralized procurement, continuously enhancing product accessibility; significantly increasing innovation investments in critical care medicine and clinical nutrition fields; relying on local R&D and manufacturing systems to accelerate the localization of original research products and enhance supply chain capabilities; and actively exploring nutritional management models that connect hospitals and home care to serve long-term care and home recovery needs in the context of aging. Li Yan, President of Qilu Pharmaceuticals Group Co., Ltd.: Qilu Pharmaceuticals will increase R&D investment, focus on new targets, new mechanisms, and new technology platforms, continuously developing innovative drugs, biosimilars, improved new drugs, and generic drugs to enhance the overall competitiveness of the enterprise. It is suggested to further optimize the healthcare insurance rules and their implementation. Adhere to the mechanism of reporter volume by brand for centralized procurement and regulate the sufficient reporting of medical institutions based on clinical realities. Strengthen the coordination between healthcare insurance payment standards and centralized procurement selection prices, using the selected prices as payment standards for drugs with the same generic name. Smooth the last mile for the implementation of nationally negotiated drugs and urge medical institutions to provide full access and optimize the layout of double-channel pharmacies. Liu Sihua, General Manager of Sichuan Kelun Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.: We have genuinely felt that in recent years the NHSA has continuously promoted the integration of the three medical systems and industrial innovation upgrades, launching synergistic policies for centralized procurement of mature drugs and insurance negotiations for innovative drugs, greatly strengthening local pharmaceutical companies' resolve to transition to innovation. For subsequent centralized procurement implementation, it is suggested to deepen reforms of grassroots procurement mechanisms on the basis of maintaining the existing mature institutional framework, further expanding the scope of unified reporting for county-level medical communities, implementing integrated collaborative management of procurement, distribution, and usage, and enhancing supply guarantee assessments at the grassroots level to unblock the last mile for the selected drugs at the grassroots level. Xie Chengrun, Chief Executive Officer of SBP GROUP: Strengthen the governance of healthcare insurance data and real-world research to enhance the level of fine management in healthcare insurance. It is suggested that while ensuring data security and patient privacy, promote the standardized sharing of data among healthcare insurance, medical, and pharmaceutical entities, support real-world research after market entry for innovative drugs, and incorporate real-world evidence into the healthcare insurance access, renewal, and payment standard adjustments. Promote the international collaboration of healthcare insurance payments and industrial innovation. It is suggested to reasonably recognize some overseas data for Chinese innovative drugs that have obtained international multi-center clinical trial data and are listed overseas in healthcare insurance access, shorten access cycles, support domestic innovative drugs in going abroad and re-entering the market, and enhance international competitiveness of Chinas pharmaceutical industry. Su Zhonghai, Chairman of Chengdu Betta Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd.: Under the inspiration of the spirit of two unwavering commitments, Betta Pharmaceuticals will strengthen confidence and deeply cultivate its main business. Deepening recognition, in accordance with the deployment of the national healthcare insurance 14th Five-Year Plan, persistently push forward efforts around expansion in reach, optimization of rules, and effectiveness of implementation. Accelerate innovation, closely follow healthcare insurance policy orientations, continuously increase R&D investments, focus on clinical needs, pursue differentiated paths of innovation, and assist in the upgrade of the pharmaceutical industry. Guarantee quality and supply, proactively take on social responsibility, continuously optimize production capacity and supply chains, improve emergency support mechanisms, and ensure that drugs selected through centralized procurement are supplied directly to grassroots levels. Cai Lei, CSPC PHARMA: We have deeply realized that healthcare insurance and the pharmaceutical industry are mutually complementary and form a shared destiny community. Healthcare insurance policies guide high-quality industrial development, and companies adhering to clinical value orientation can produce product innovations that also better support the realization of healthcare insurance and public livelihood protection goals. We look forward to healthcare insurance better developing real-world data to allow companies, under compliance conditions, to use data to guide R&D project initiation; on one hand relying on healthcare insurance medication data to identify clinical gaps earlier and guide early project selection; on the other hand using standardized real-world research to substantiate clinical value of products, making the value of innovation measurable and verifiable. Wang Hongwei, President of Zhejiang Medicine Co., Ltd.: The national organization of centralized procurement of drugs is a significant livelihood initiative to deepen the reform of the three medical systems and alleviate the medication burden on the public. Throughout the entire period of implementing past centralized procurement, we have always prioritized product quality and supply assurance, strictly implementing quality control across the entire chain of drugs, adhering to GMP production standards from raw material procurement, manufacturing, inspection, to storage logistics and market distribution, establishing a closed-loop management mechanism to ensure that the quality of selected drugs remains stable and controllable. At the same time, we scientifically schedule production, expand capacity, and optimize the national supply chain layout, ensuring adequate inventory reserves and regional allocations, fully guaranteeing stable supplies for national medical institutions to ensure guaranteed supply and quality for selected bids and practically fulfill the responsibilities of pharmaceutical enterprises. Zou Xianhong, Executive Director of UNITED LAB Group: Our company has established a full-process quality control system to ensure stable quality of products selected through centralized procurement. We strictly implement quality responsibilities, establish mechanisms covering production processing, factory inspection, storage and distribution, and after-sales traceability for full-process quality control, rigorously execute standard production, batch self-inspection, and conduct self-checking and rectification regularly, proactively cooperating with supervision and sampling checks and commitment assessments to continuously ensure the quality and safety of selected products. Chen Xueming, Chairman and General Manager of Jiangsu PHARMDY: Practice has demonstrated that centralized procurement is an important opportunity for companies to transform towards high quality. Through linkage of volume and price, and replacing quantity with price, the market foundation for high-quality chronic disease products has been fundamentally stabilized, markedly reducing marketing costs and achieving a threefold win for enhancing efficiency and quality of healthcare funds, alleviating patient burdens, and the transformation and development of enterprises. Taking our core product, Metformin Hydrochloride Sustained-Release Tablets, as an example, the product was approved for market entry in 2008, with sales of 150 million tablets prior to centralized procurement in 2019, and after being selected in the third batch of national centralized procurement in 2020, sales surged to 493 million tablets the following year, truly achieving a virtuous cycle of scale growth, benefiting the populace, and improving enterprise quality. Luo Ya, Vice President of Novartis China: Novartis' 'Entresto', as a reference formulation for sacubitril/valsartan tablets, was selected in the 12th batch of centralized procurement. Moving forward, we will continue to focus on quality management and supply assurance, translating the selection results into long-term, stable, and affordable access to medications. As the dynamic adjustment mechanism of the healthcare insurance catalog continues to improve, the pathway for innovative drugs from approval to inclusion in healthcare insurance is becoming clearer and more predictable. This not only allows more patients to access innovative treatments faster but also gives companies greater confidence and motivation to bring global innovations to China. Looking ahead to the 14th Five-Year Plan, Novartis will continue to consider the needs of Chinese patients earlier in global R&D, registration, and market planning, enabling more innovations to land faster in China and benefit patients better. Feng Yanhui, Chairman of Eisai (China): In terms of medical security, relevant products have benefited from policy support, with Lenvatinib Tablets being included in the National Healthcare Insurance Drug List just one year after its market launch. Lenvatinib Injection was included in the first version of the Innovative Drug List for Commercial Health Insurance and has enjoyed support from commercial insurance policies such as the 'three exclusions' for innovative drugs; to date, it has entered 198 medical institutions. We have genuinely experienced the significant support from healthcare insurance towards true innovations. In the next three years, we will continue to introduce innovative drugs in areas such as Alzheimer's disease, ALS, and narcolepsy into China. At the same time, we will use patient benefits as the core standard for expressing drug value, ensuring that every innovative drug withstands clinical validation, market testing, and the test of time. Dong Lijun, General Manager of AbbVie China: We greatly appreciate that the '14th Five-Year Plan for Universal Healthcare Security' proposes vigorously developing commercial medical insurance, promoting the complementarity between basic healthcare insurance and commercial health insurance, charity donations, and medical mutual assistance. In the future, AbbVie will successively launch numerous revolutionary innovative products, including treatments for diseases such as migraines, Parkinson's, and Alzheimers, which have been significantly impactful on public health. AbbVie is willing to become the most trustworthy industry partner in the national healthcare insurance endeavor. We will strongly support various reform measures, actively implement centralized bulk procurement, healthcare insurance catalog adjustments, payment method reforms, fund supervision, real-world research, and the construction of multi-tiered protection systems. We will continue to introduce more innovative products with groundbreaking clinical value into China and promote patient accessibility in a more responsible and sustainable manner; AbbVie is actively preparing three related real-world studies, looking forward to contributing real-world evidence in a scientific, standardized, and transparent way under the guidance of the National Healthcare Security Administration to support the value assessment of innovative drugs, clinical rational use, and refined management of healthcare insurance. Wang Yiqin, General Manager of Abbott China: In recent years, the deepening of healthcare insurance reform in China has achieved remarkable results. In particular, the national organization of centralized bulk procurement of drugs has continuously optimized institutional design, enhancing drug accessibility and efficiency in the use of healthcare insurance funds while also driving the pharmaceutical industry towards a more regulated and higher quality direction. As a multinational corporation, we profoundly feel that China's centralized procurement reform has become an important practice of global concern in the pharmaceutical industry. Abbott's global headquarters has always closely monitored the progress of healthcare reform in China, and we also continuously share the experiences and achievements of China's healthcare insurance reform with our global team. Looking forward to the 14th Five-Year Plan, Abbott will continue to play the role of a bridge for multinational enterprises, bringing more high-quality drugs and innovative achievements to the Chinese market while sharing the successful practices and experiences of China's healthcare reform with the global team to further strengthen the global pharmaceutical industry's confidence in the Chinese market. This article is compiled from the National Healthcare Security Administrations official WeChat account, edited by Xu Wenqiang.