Posted by Michael Wonder on 18 Dec 2021
Chinese official a ‘hero’ after forcing US drug maker Biogen to cut cost of treatment for spinal disease with ‘gentle but firm’ approach
6 December 2021 - US pharmaceutical company reduces the price of a drug for a rare spinal disease after seven rounds of negotiations with China’s medical insurance authority.
Currently, the drug nusinersen sodium, used to treat spinal muscular atrophy, is sold at the exorbitant price of 700,000 yuan (US$110,000) for a 5 mL bottle. The original proposed price reduction was to bring it down to 53,680 yuan (US$8,423).
But it was then reduced to 33,000 yuan (US$5,178) after seven rounds of negotiations between representatives from China’s National Healthcare Security Administration and the American drug producer Biogen, according to video clips of the negotiations released last week.
