Winner Takes All: New China Bidding Scheme Marks Price Watershed?

With tens of millions of dollars in sales at stake, a number of mostly commonly used drugs are subject to the first-ever nationwide drug price bidding process in China, with foreign firms seeing the move as opening the floodgate to a potential downward price spiral in the world’s second-largest pharma market.

Shanghai
Shanghai leads China's national "4+7" drug centralized procurement • Source: Shutterstock

China is shortly to implement a pilot consolidated, volume-based procurement program that looks likely to set the tone for drug pricing for years to come, and which is already creating worry within the pharma industry as official efforts to rein in rising drug and healthcare costs continue.

A total of 11 cities, including four 'megacities', will participate in the centralized bidding scheme, representing the bulk of the total pharma sector in the country

Read the full article – start your free trial today!

Join thousands of industry professionals who rely on Scrip for daily insights

  • Start your 7-day free trial
  • Explore trusted news, analysis, and insights
  • Access comprehensive global coverage
  • Enjoy instant access – no credit card required

More from China

Hengrui Set For Biggest Biopharma IPO So Far This Year

 

Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals is gearing up for what will be 2025's biggest biopharma IPO so far, hoping to raise up to $1.27bn on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. China's top drug maker by pipeline size plans to use part of the proceeds to reboot its overseas clinical trials ambitions.

China Biopharma Podcast

 
• By 

Join our China-based editors Dexter Yan and Xu Hu in this Chinese-language podcast looking at some of their recent interviews and other key coverage.

Insilico Fast-Tracks First AI-Designed TNIK Inhibitor For IPF

 

InSilico will leapfrog Phase IIb to progress its AI-generated candidate for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis directly into a Phase III trial in China, as it prepares for an IPO in Hong Kong.

Chinese Vaccine Makers Turn To Emerging Markets

 

Chinese producers of novel vaccines are increasingly pivoting to developing markets overseas in the face of a collapse in their domestic sales.

More from Focus On Asia

Multiple Launches Help Lilly’s Japan Growth

 
• By 

Lilly saw solid growth for its business in Japan last year on the back of several new launches and is building its obesity and Alzheimer's portfolios in the country.

China Biopharma Podcast

 
• By 

Join our China-based editors Dexter Yan and Xu Hu in this Chinese-language podcast looking at some of their recent interviews and other key coverage.

Celltrion Sees Multiple Biosimilar Opportunities From Trump’s Pricing EO

 
• By 

Biosimilars giant Celltrion tells shareholders there could be multiple opportunities for its business under US President Donald Trump’s latest executive order on drug pricing.