File Photo: Eli Lilly and Company | Photo credit: Brendan McDermid
A total of 19 drugs were on the list — a form of drugs deemed too expensive for state insurance but recommended for commercial health care coverage — officials said Sunday in Guangzhou. The drugs are intended for a range of conditions, including cancer and Alzheimer’s disease, as well as rare genetic conditions.
As China’s aging population increases demand for therapies that treat everything from cancer and diabetes to dementia, the inclusion of these drugs could ease pressure on the state’s health insurance system. A steady transition to commercial insurance reimbursement is also expected to allow global and Chinese drugmakers to sell their drugs at a higher price, boosting margins long suppressed by the deep price cuts required in the national program.
To qualify, drugmakers negotiated with government officials for discounted prices that would be offered to all private insurers.
In addition to Kisunla from Eli Lilly and Leqembi from Eisai Co. – both of which treat Alzheimer’s disease – the list also included cancer drugs from Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. A host of local drugmakers also gained spots on the list, including five makers of CAR T-cell therapies for cancer treatment. BeOne Medicines Ltd. is the only company with two drugs on the list.
The government did not immediately announce the average discounts. Local media reports previously cited 15 to 50 percent – smaller than the 60 percent cuts typically required for inclusion in the National Reimbursement Drug List (NRDL).
China’s state insurance system, which covers 95 percent of its 1.4 billion population, has long used its bargaining power to demand steep concessions in exchange for NRDL volume. Multinationals such as AstraZeneca Plc and Novartis AG embraced the NRDL strategy, while others avoided it and instead focused on their own or private insurance customers – a limited part of the market.
The unspoken price cap also excluded new and expensive drugs from local companies, such as CAR T-cell therapies. Faced with tight profit margins, Chinese biotech companies have long pushed for payment reforms.
The new catalog aims to expand the role of commercial insurance in financing innovative medicines. Its impact on drug companies’ sales and profitability remains to be seen.
Both foreign and local drugmakers were among the 121 drugs initially eligible for the catalog, which was later restricted. While this year’s final list may be too small to shift the market, Macquarie Securities analysts led by Tony Ren expect the catalog to grow to 300 drugs by 2027.
“Commercial health insurance could be a great solution to the current shortcomings of a single-payer NRDL system,” they wrote ahead of the announcement.
The drug catalog was unveiled alongside the latest NRDL update, which added 114 new drugs, including Lilly’s diabetes treatment Mounjaro. Both will come into effect on January 1.
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Published on December 7, 2025
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