China to list more cancer drugs for medical insurance coverage

BEIJING - China will include more anti-cancer drugs on its new list of medicines eligible for medical insurance reimbursement to be released this year.

Apart from cancer drugs, medicines for rare diseases, chronic illness, children and first-aid treatment are among the options for a lengthened reimbursement list, the National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA) said in a document aimed at reducing the burden on patients.

The candidates for inclusion should be drugs that have been launched in markets with the approval of the National Medical Products Administration before Dec. 31, 2018, said the document.

It also banned some medicines from the list, including those containing endangered wild animals and plants, contraceptives, and pharmaceuticals for slimming, cosmetology and smoking cessation.

The existing medicines for reimbursement that have been banned from production, sales and use by national drug regulators should also be excluded from the list, said the document.

It is the first comprehensive adjustment of the list after the establishment of the NHSA in 2018, with the current version released in 2017, containing a total of 2,588 medicines.