Cancer Drug Costs Slashed, State Council Says

Chinese cancer patients paid 75% (link in Chinese) less for a group of cancer drugs in the 82 days to the end of the year, after they were listed on the national government-backed insurance scheme in October, according to China’s State Council.

Patients are partially reimbursed by the government when they buy drugs listed under the scheme, which is run by the State Medical Insurance Administration (SMIA).

The drugs are used to treat cancers of the lung, kidney, colon and rectum, as well as lymphoma, an SMIA representative said (link in Chinese).

The State Council said on Wednesday (link in Chinese) that around 44,600 patients had their drugs part-funded to the tune of 256 million yuan ($37.9 million) in total.

It added that sales of 13 of the drugs, which have been on the market for longer than a year, hit 1.56 million units, up 155.4% from the previous year.

Hospitals sold drugs to patients for an average of 56.7% of their original retail cost, based on a calculation of drug prices released by the SMIA.

China is one of the world’s largest markets for cancer treatments. The Southern Medicine Economic Research Institute of the China Food and Drug Administration said in 2017 that the nation’s cancer drug market was worth 127 billion yuan, the state-run Global Times reported.

But it will now be a challenge for the government to add other urgently needed drugs to the program, said Cai Jiangnan, director of Centre for Health Care Management and Policy at the China Europe International Business School. He said a number of drugs would have to be removed from the insurance scheme to make way for the cancer treatments in order to keep within the government’s budget. This is a particular concern given the high cost of novel cancer drugs.

The move to curb costs comes after a public backlash against the financial burden on China’s cancer patients. Even with the help of government-backed insurance programs, in 2017 the average Chinese cancer patient was paying 220,000 yuan for treatment, 1.75 times the average family’s annual disposable income, a study by the Chinese Anti-Cancer Association and Caixin’s health care news portal Health Point found.

Zhao Runhua also contributed to this report.

Contact reporter Tang Ziyi (ziyitang@caixin.com)