New Findings from Peking University Describe Advances in Anticancer Agents (Prices and Clinical Benefit of National Price-negotiated Anticancer Medicines In China): Drugs and Therapies – Anticancer Agents

2022 JUL 25 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Research findings on Drugs and Therapies - Anticancer Agents are discussed in a new report. According to news reporting originating in Beijing, People’s Republic of China, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “High prices of anticancer medicines have increased the economic burden for both patients and health insurance systems. Since 2017, China has implemented national price negotiations for medicines, relying on evidence from health technology assessments.”

Financial support for this research came from Peking University.

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from Peking University, “We aim to assess the relation between negotiated price and value of anticancer medicines listed in China’s National Reimbursement Drug List (NRDL). For all price-negotiated anticancer medicines and corresponding indications listed in the latest NRDL between 2017 and 2020, we collected their clinical outcomes data, including overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS), in supporting trials. Pearson correlation coefficient was calculated to estimate the association between the daily cost and clinical benefit of each indication. In total, 75 indications of 46 branded anticancer medicines were included for analysis. The median daily costs for the anticancer therapies that had gone through negotiation in 2017-2020 were US$87.6, US$71.8, US$58.9, and US$39.7, respectively. For indications supported by randomized trials, no correlation between daily costs and OS and PFS benefit of the price-negotiated cancer therapies was observed (N = 41, r = -0.05, and N = 49, r = 0.04, respectively). For cancer indications newly listed in NRDL in 2020, the association between their daily cost and OS benefit was -0.78 (N = 4, p = 0.221) and 0.01 (N = 8, p = 0.986) before and after the price negotiation. Though the negotiation policy decreased prices of anticancer medicines in China, no statistically significant correlation was observed between their daily costs and clinical benefits.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “A more transparent and credible pricing approach needs to be established to promote value-based anticancer medicines and healthcare system efficiency.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Prices and Clinical Benefit of National Price-negotiated Anticancer Medicines In China. PharmacoEconomics, 2022. PharmacoEconomics can be contacted at: Adis Int Ltd, 5 The Warehouse Way, Northcote 0627, Auckland, New Zealand.

Our news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Xiaodong Guan, Peking University, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Dept. of Pharmacy Administration and Clinical Pharmacy, 38 Xueyuan Rd, Beijing, People’s Republic of China. Additional authors for this research include Yichen Zhang, Yuxuan Wei, Yixuan Chen, Yiran Guo, Luwen Shi, Huangqianyu Li and Sheng Han.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40273-022-01161-7. 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.

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