Chinese government officials have vowed to speed up cuts to the cost of cancer drugs in a move that threatens revenues in the country for big drugmakers such as Eli Lilly, Roche and Novartis.
According to Zhao Heng of Latitude Health, reported by the Financial Times, drugs already covered by state-insurance could have their prices cut by 10 percent, with reductions of up to 50 percent for other medications as a condition of them being added to the state insurance scheme.
Officials have also tried to push pharma companies to cut prices by threatening a switch to cheaper, local generics in state hospitals.
According to FT sources, several multinational pharma companies have been invited for talks with government officials over prices this week.
Read the FT article