China Adds 70 Drugs to Insurance Reimbursement List; Negotiates 61% Average Price Cuts

China's National Healthcare Security Administration announced that 70 drug have been added to the list of drugs eligible for insurance reimbursement after biopharmas agreed to price cuts that averaged 61%. Two new products from western companies, anemia treatment roxadustat from AstraZeneca and lung cancer therapy alecensa from Roche, are now covered by China's insurance plan. And China's domestic PD-1 therapy for Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Tyvyt, co-developed by Suzhou's Innovent and Eli Lilly, was also added, the first PD-1 on the list, even though China has five approved PD-1/PD-L1 products, including two from the US. By including Tyvyt in the reimbursement list, the NHSA may have given Tyvyt a big boost in early market positioning. More details....

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