Guangdong to impose price caps on 480 prescription drugs
Shanghai. August 7. INTERFAX-CHINA - The Guangdong Provincial Price Bureau will impose retail price caps on 480 types of prescription drugs to reduce the medical expenses of its residents, according to a statement on the Guangdong provincial government's Web site on Aug. 6.
The 480 types of prescription drugs comprise of 265 Western medicines including rufloxacin, kanamycin, dinoprostone, capreomycin and ebastine, as well as 215 traditional Chinese medicines such as Gan Yan Ling injection.
"The bureau is in the process of determining the price caps based on production costs and current retail prices," a Guangdong Provincial Price Bureau official, who declined to be named, told Interfax on Aug. 7.
"Prior to this, we had already set caps for over 2,000 types of prescription drugs," she said, adding that there are about 30,000 types of prescription drugs sold in Guangdong Province at the moment.
According to the statement, the bureau will work towards setting price caps for the majority of the 30,000 prescription drugs.
Pharmaceutical companies will also need to adjust retail prices for different dosage forms of the selected drug in accordance with the National Development and Reform Commission's price setting policies and submit proposed new prices to the bureau for review, the official said.
-KZ