Sichuan University Reports Findings in Cancer (Price negotiation and pricing of anticancer drugs in China: An observational study): Cancer

2024 JAN 16 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Daily China News -- New research on Cancer is the subject of a report. According to news reporting out of Chengdu, People’s Republic of China, by NewsRx editors, research stated, “While China has implemented reimbursement-linked drug price negotiation annually since 2017, emphasizing value-based pricing to achieve a value-based strategic purchase of medical insurance, whether drug prices became better aligned with clinical value after price negotiation has not been sufficiently established. This study aimed to assess the changes in prices and their relationship with the clinical value of anticancer drugs after the implementation of price negotiations in China.”

Financial supporters for this research include National Natural Science Foundation of China, Sichuan Province Science and Technology Support Program, China Center for South Asian Studies, Sichuan University.

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Sichuan University, “In this observational study, anticancer drug indications that were negotiated successfully between 2017 and 2022 were identified through National Reimbursement Drug Lists (NRDL) of China. We excluded extensions of indications for drugs already listed in the NRDL, indications for pediatric use, and indications lacking corresponding clinical trials. We identified pivotal clinical trials for included indications by consulting review reports or drug labels issued by the Center for Drug Evaluation, National Medical Products Administration. We calculated treatment costs as outcome measures based on publicly available prices and collected data on clinical value including safety, survival, quality of life, and overall response rate (ORR) from publications of pivotal clinical trials. The associations between drug costs and clinical value, both before and after negotiation, were analyzed using regression analyses. We also examined whether price negotiation has led to a reduction in the variation of treatment costs for a given value. We included 103 anticancer drug indications, primarily for the treatment of blood cancer, lung cancer, and breast cancer, with 76 supported by randomized controlled trials and 27 supported by single-arm clinical trials. The median treatment costs over the entire sample have been reduced from US$34,460.72 (interquartile range (IQR): 19,990.49 to 55,441.66) to US$13,688.79 (IQR: 7,746.97 to 21,750.97) after price negotiation (P < 0.001). Before price negotiation, each additional month of survival gained was associated with an increase in treatment costs of 3.4% (95% confidence interval (CI) [2.1, 4.8], P< 0.001) for indications supported by randomized controlled trials, and a 10% increase in ORR was associated with a 6.0% (95% CI [1.6, 10.3], P = 0.009) increase in treatment costs for indications supported by single-arm clinical trials. After price negotiation, the associations between costs and clinical value may not have changed significantly, but the variation of drug costs for a given value was reduced. Study limitations include the lack of transparency in official data, missing data on clinical value, and a limited sample size. In this study, we found that the implementation of price negotiation in China has led to drug pricing better aligned with clinical value for anticancer drugs even after substantial price reductions.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “The achievements made in China could shed light on the price regulation in other countries, particularly those with limited resources and increasing drug expenditures.”

For more information on this research see: Price negotiation and pricing of anticancer drugs in China: An observational study. PLOS Medicine, 2024;21(1). PLOS Medicine can be contacted at: Public Library Science, 1160 Battery Street, Ste 100, San Francisco, CA 94111, USA. (Public Library of Science - www.plos.org; PLOS Medicine - www.plosmedicine.org)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Tianjiao Lan, HEOA Group, West China School of Public Health and West China Fourth Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, People’s Republic of China. Additional authors for this research include Jing Zhou, Hao Lu and Jay Pan.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1004332. 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.

Publisher contact information for the journal PLOS Medicine is: Public Library Science, 1160 Battery Street, Ste 100, San Francisco, CA 94111, USA.

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