17 January 2019 - China has unveiled a pilot medicine procurement program to be tried in 11 major cities to lower drug prices and reduce the burden on patients.
Details of the program was released by the General Office of the State Council Thursday.
As a major reform of the current centralised procurement system, the program asks public hospitals in the pilot cities to purchase 60 to 70% of their total annual demand for certain medicines in order to get a lower price.