Moving to make it easier for innovative drug therapies to enter the Chinese market, the country’s National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA) announced in August 2019 it will make 148 new drugs eligible for insurance reimbursement. Altogether, patients will be able to seek... Read More
Six months after Collategene became the first gene therapeutic drug cleared for use in Japan, the country’s health insurance system announced in September 2019 it would be placed on the list of pharmaceuticals approved for coverage. The drug, which introduces genes that... Read More
Determined to reduce prices of syringes, needles, sutures, staples, packaging, tubing, catheters, medical gloves, and other heavily used medical consumables, Chinese authorities in July unveiled a series of new cost-containment measures. The moves include a pilot program that would permit groups of... Read More
Moving to centralize decision-making on drug reimbursement practices, China’s National Healthcare Security Administration has drafted a plan to decrease the ability of provincial governments to make adjustments to the prices of pharmaceuticals. The agency, which since its formation last November has played... Read More
Japan’s health ministry will conduct a survey to evaluate drug pricing in advance of the regular biennial pharmaceutical price revision slated for April 2020. The decision to conduct the survey was solidified in June, when the Central Social Insurance Medical Council, commonly referred... Read More
A cutting edge cancer therapy from Swiss pharmaceutical maker Novartis that genetically modifies a patient’s own immune cells to treat acute lymphoblastic leukemia is now covered by Japan’s national health insurance system. The drug, Kymriah, is more expensive than any other cancer... Read More
In a move certain to escalate tensions between South Korea and the pharmaceutical industry, the government is planning steps designed to lower the prices it pays for drugs under its universal health insurance system. Under the new plan, the government will reevaluate... Read More
China is expected to update its list of medicines covered by government medical insurance plans in June, dropping some drugs with low clinical value for innovative treatments that are urgently needed. Authorities are also likely to adjust the prices it pays manufacturers... Read More
Eager to more tightly control costs to consumers of emerging medical therapies, Japanese authorities are discussing implementing rules to regulate prices on regenerative medicine products At a February 20, 2019 meeting of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW), officials for... Read More
China’s health insurance regulator in October added 17 anti-cancer drugs to the list of those already covered by its national medical insurance system. The approval of the therapies is part of a series of moves by the government to make cancer treatment... Read More