The National Healthcare Security Administration announced Monday that it will dispatch a team of government officials to Shanghai to gather feedback on the quality of drugs included in centralized procurement programs.
The move follows concerns raised during Shanghai's annual legislative and political advisory sessions, where political advisers and medical experts questioned the efficacy of generic medications procured through national and regional bulk-buy programs.
Under these programs, pharmaceutical companies bid for large-volume contracts with public hospitals, leading to price cuts ranging from 50 percent to more than 90 percent. Most of the medications involved are domestically produced generics.
While the mechanism has been praised for reducing financial burdens on patients and public health insurance funds, some political advisers have reported that certain drugs — used to manage high blood pressure, treat constipation and act as anesthetics or antibiotics — have not met efficacy expectations or have performed worse than imported alternatives, according to financial news outlet Yicai.com.
The administration said a team including officials from health, industry, information technology and drug regulation agencies will visit Shanghai on Tuesday to collect suggestions on the procurement policy and the quality of selected medications.
The officials will focus on identifying quality and efficacy issues supported by clinical data, such as statistical differences in cure rates, treatment effectiveness and adverse reactions between original drugs and generic versions. Findings will be submitted to drug regulators.
Discussions will also explore measures to ensure the efficacy and safety of drugs procured through the program, including increasing routine inspections of drug manufacturers, publishing drug evaluation results and establishing feedback channels for medical institutions to report comparisons of drug efficacy.
The administration noted Monday that medications purchased through centralized procurement agreements generally make up 60 percent to 80 percent of the total volume required by medical institutions, which are free to choose brands for the remaining portion.
"There is no one-size-fits-all policy prohibiting hospitals from procuring imported, original drugs," the administration said.
It added that companies winning bids have passed drug efficacy assessments and are subject to random inspections. A real-world study assessing the use of bulk-buy drugs in 80 major hospitals is also underway.
