Medicine pricing reforms ready for roll out

Prices of more than 2,700 drugs will soon be determined by the market, rather than the government, as China gets ready to roll out its ambitious drug pricing reform plan, industry sources said on Thursday.

The National Development and Reform Commission has already sent the draft plan on drug pricing reforms to eight related industry associations this week to solicit opinion. What this also means is that the current government-led pricing system that has been in place for about two decades will end soon.

Currently government-priced drugs account for around 23 percent of the total drug market in China. The reforms stipulate that the maximum retail price, or factory price of drugs, will not be fixed by the government from January 1, 2015. "Instead, the actual price will be arrived at through market competition," it said.