Recent years have witnessed a sharp rise of China's generics industry in terms of quality, production capacity and market shares. By the end of 2022, the number of generics that passed the Generic Consistency Evaluation (GCE) reached 3,902, covering over 600 items. The results of the study on the first three lists of 37 items for centralized procurement showed that the clinical efficacy and safety of these generics were equivalent to those of the original ones, some of which are far more superior. quality. Consistency Evaluation truly achieves a reduction in price but not quality.
On 17th October, NHSA held a press conference on “Outcomes of Real-World Studies on Clinical Efficacy and Safety of Generics in the 2nd & 3rd Lists of National Centralized Drug Procurement. Professor Chang Feng, our school dean, was invited to attend the press conference and be interviewed. President Chang Feng said that China has now conducted 8 lists of national procurement. Consequently, the priority use of high-quality bid-winning medicines like original drugs and generics that passed GCE has increased from 50% before the national procurement up to over 95% afterwards in patient population. The overall quality of clinical medicines has been elevated.
Nevertheless, a price review on the 150 original drugs failed in National Procurement from the first 7 lists reveals that some originators' prices on Chinese market remain higher than the global median price and continue to keep unjustifiably high even after patents expiration. Targeting this downside, Dean Chang Feng called on China's medical staff and patients to have a rational judgment on the quality and economic issues of originators at the press conference. Again，he appealed to the originator companies to treat China's lucrative market more fairly in terms of product supply, pricing. and quality assurance. He highly recommended them to adjust pricing strategies in a timely manner to match Chinese market size.
Dean Chang Feng and his team have long been engaged in the research of domestic and international price management, actively participated in the national healthcare reform. Additionally, they have an in-depth engagement in the research of medical insurance catalogue negotiation and national volume-based procurement policy (NVBP). This attendance of Dean Chang Feng at NHSA’s press conference demonstrates our academic studies stay abreast of the national pharmaceutical policies.
Professor Chang Feng, Dean of our school, invited to attend the press conference of the NHSA
Written by Lu Yuqiong
Edited by Fu Juan
First Reviewed by Wang Jintao
Second Reviewed by Chang Feng
Final Reviewed by Ding Sujun
