China’s Payer Keeps Deep Price Cuts Steady in Latest NRDL Listing

Volume/Pricing Trade-Off

The 2022 pricing negotiations for innovative drugs organized by China’s National Healthcare Security Administration have slashed prices of included products by 60% on average, a level mostly unchanged from the 2021 round, although 36% more novel medicines were covered.

2022 round NRDL price talk — 36% more novel drugs win national reimbursement in latest annual China negotiations • Source: Shutterstock

China’s public healthcare service payer, the National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA), kept the level of drug price cuts steady at an average of roughly 60% in its latest round of annual negotiations for innovative products included in the new version of the National Reimbursement Drug List (NRDL), the agency disclosed on 18 January.

Although state negotiators remained unrelenting in the pursuit of deep discounts in return for inclusion in the 2022 round, which...