Procurement of drugs added to China's medical insurance catalog through negotiations surges in 2025

NANJING, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- A total of 84.2 percent of the drugs added to China's national medical insurance drug catalog through price negotiations recorded increases in both procurement value and volume in 2025, according to an annual report released in Suzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province.

The 2026 report on drug procurement through China's national medical insurance information platform showed that 530 drugs had been added to the national medical insurance catalog through negotiations by the end of 2024, following the introduction of dynamic adjustment mechanism in 2018. Most of these medicines are innovative drugs.

Since 2018, China's National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA) has made nine adjustments to the catalog of medicines covered by basic medical insurance. Following the latest adjustment, the catalog will contain 3,331 medicines, covering both Western and traditional Chinese medicine. The updated list will take effect on Jan. 1, 2027.

In 2025, drug procurement through the national medical insurance information platform totaled nearly 1.05 trillion yuan (about 156 billion U.S. dollars), up 5 percent year on year, said Ding Yilei, an official with the NHSA.

Of this, procurement of drugs included in the national medical insurance drug catalog through negotiations reached 172.5 billion yuan, surging 48 percent from the previous year, Ding said.

"The growth rate in procurement value of negotiated drugs was nearly 10 times that of overall drug procurement, demonstrating strong growth momentum," he said.

China aims to support the development of innovative medicines and ensure that patients gain timely access to valuable new drugs, while upholding the fundamental role of basic medical insurance in providing essential coverage and reducing the public's burden of medication costs, Ding said.