China Expands National Drug Procurement with 65 New Medicines
China has successfully completed its 12th round of national drug centralized procurement, adding 65 new medicines to the program and bringing the total number of covered drugs to 555. The bidding, held July 31 in Shanghai, resulted in 327 companies’ 521 products being selected from 495 companies that submitted 859 product bids, according to Xinhua News.
Expanding Coverage Across Treatment Areas
The newly procured medicines span critical therapeutic categories including hypertension, lipid-lowering, blood sugar control, anti-tumor, anti-thrombotic, anti-infection, rheumatic immunity, and anti-inflammatory treatments. Specific drugs include betahistine for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular conditions, acipimox for lipid management, sevoflurane inhalation anesthetic, and nutritional agents such as compound amino acids and fat emulsion.
A total of 45,000 medical institutions participated in reporting procurement demand, the National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA) confirmed. The procurement cycle extends for three years, through December 31, 2029, providing long-term market stability for selected suppliers.
Quality and Clinical Needs Take Center Stage
The 12th batch marks a significant evolution in China’s drug procurement approach, shifting from a singular focus on price reduction toward balancing affordability with quality and clinical flexibility. The NHSA emphasized its commitment to four core principles: stabilizing clinical use, ensuring quality, countering irrational competition, and preventing bid-rigging.
Notably, 10 reference preparations from multinational pharmaceutical companies were selected, including Novartis’s sacubitril/valsartan, Bayer’s iopromide, Eisai’s betahistine, and Abbott’s dydrogesterone. This reflects a new “revival” mechanism that allows original drugs that didn’t initially qualify to re-enter the market at adjusted prices without volume commitments, as China News reported.
“With some original reference preparations selected, clinicians have more choices, which also helps maintain medication habits for some patients,” Xu Ming, chief physician at Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University, told Xinhua.
Curbing Destructive Price Wars
Competition remained intense, with an average of 15 companies bidding per medicine variety and the most competitive category attracting 49 bidders. However, new rules introduced a two-tier price anchor mechanism designed to prevent extreme low bids from distorting the market.
Bids falling more than one standard deviation below the average entry price no longer serve as pricing anchors, while bids more than two standard deviations below can win but without volume allocation. According to Jiemian News, this makes it harder for companies without existing market share to win through extreme price undercutting alone.
“Our mindset is relatively calm now; today feels more like an ‘industry gathering,’” one pharmaceutical company representative told Jiemian at the bidding site.
Strengthening Grassroots Access
The program also introduced measures to improve medication access at the grassroots level. Medical consortia can now report demand collectively, aggregating fragmented needs from smaller institutions. Additionally, primary-level facilities with limited demand can select any brand among the selected products during implementation.
“This is to ensure that primary-level medical institutions can access more varieties of medicines within limited scope, truly guaranteeing patients’ medication at their ‘doorstep,’” Liu Side, professor at Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, told Xinhua.
Quality Assurance as a Red Line
Quality control remains a central pillar of the program. The NHSA reported that domestic drug inspection pass rates have remained above 99 percent, and 17 drugs have been disqualified from procurement out of more than 2,500 selected products due to quality issues. New rules prohibit packaging downgrades and require foreign-produced generics to provide proof of passing Chinese drug regulatory inspections.
As CCTV News reported, “Various targeted drugs and common chronic disease medications have seen significant price reductions. Once-unaffordable good medicines are gradually entering ordinary households, and patients’ medication burden continues to decrease.”
Looking Ahead
Since its launch in 2018 with the “4+7” pilot program, China’s national drug procurement has evolved into a comprehensive framework covering 555 medicines across 12 batches. Patients nationwide are expected to access the discounted medicines from this latest batch within 2026.
The program’s maturation from “expansion and speed” to “quality and efficiency” signals a deliberate policy shift. As the Chinese government website noted, the focus is now on ensuring that patients receive both affordable and high-quality medications, with the program’s long-term sustainability depending on maintaining balance between cost control and industry viability.
Industry observers will be watching how the “anti-involution” rules shape future bidding dynamics and whether the balance between original drug access and generic affordability holds as the program continues to expand its coverage.