Harbin Medical University Reports Findings in Anticancer Agents (Impact of medical insurance access negotiation on the utilization of innovative anticancer drugs in China: an interrupted time series analysis): Drugs and Therapies – Anticancer Agents

2024 JAN 31 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- New research on Drugs and Therapies - Anticancer Agents is the subject of a report. According to news originating from Heilongjiang, People’s Republic of China, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “The high costs of innovative anticancer drugs hinder a number of cancer patients’ access to these drugs in China. To address this problem, in 2018, the medical insurance access negotiation (MIAN) policy was implemented, when the prices of 17 innovative anticancer drugs were successfully negotiated and they were therefore included in the reimbursement list.”

Financial supporters for this research include National Social Science Foundation of China, Natural Science Foundation of Heilongjiang Province, China, A cooperative project between School of Health Management, Harbin Medical University and Science and Technology Development Center of the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Harbin Medical University, “This study aimed to explore the impact of the MIAN policy on the utilization of innovative anticancer drugs. With monthly data on drug expenditures and defined daily doses (DDDs) of each innovative anticancer drug from January 2017 to December 2019, interrupted time series analysis was employed to estimate both the instant (change in the level of outcome) and long-term (change in trends of outcomes) impacts of the MIAN policy on drug utilization in terms of drug expenditures and DDDs. Our sample consists of 12 innovative anticancer drugs. From January 2017 to December 2019, the monthly drug expenditures and DDDs of 12 innovative anticancer drugs increased by about 573% (from US$8,931,809.30 to US$51,138,331.09) and 1400% (from 47,785 to 668,754), respectively. Overall, the implementation of the MIAN policy led to instant substantial increases of US$8,734,414 in drug expenditures and 158,192.5 in DDDs. Moreover, a sharper upward trend over time was reported, with increases of US$2,889,078 and 38,715.3 in the monthly growth rates of drug expenditures and DDDs, respectively. Regarding individual innovative anticancer drugs, the most prominent instant change and trend change in drug utilization were found for osimertinib, crizotinib, and ibrutinib. In contrast, the utilization of pegaspargase was barely affected by the MIAN policy. The MIAN policy has effectively promoted the utilization of innovative anticancer drugs.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “To ensure the continuity of the effects and eliminate differentiation, supplementary measures should be carried out, such as careful selection of drugs for medical insurance negotiations, a health technology assessment system and a multichannel financing mechanism.”

For more information on this research see: Impact of medical insurance access negotiation on the utilization of innovative anticancer drugs in China: an interrupted time series analysis. BMC Health Services Research, 2024;24(1):90. BMC Health Services Research can be contacted at: Bmc, Campus, 4 Crinan St, London N1 9XW, England. (BioMed Central - http://www.biomedcentral.com/; BMC Health Services Research - http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmchealthservres/)

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from Jingmin Zhu, Dept. of Social Medicine, School of Health Management, Harbin Medical University, Heilongjiang, People’s Republic of China. Additional authors for this research include Cui Li, Linghan Shan, Yingyu Zhou, Gang Liu, Hong Zhu, Qunhong Wu, Yu Cui and Zheng Kang.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-023-10393-y. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

The publisher’s contact information for the journal BMC Health Services Research is: Bmc, Campus, 4 Crinan St, London N1 9XW, England.

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