By Fineline Cube 
China’s National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA) released the preliminary formal review results for the 2025 National Reimbursement Drug List and the new Commercial Insurance Innovative Drug List on August 12, 2025. The public comment period for the lists will be open until August 18.
Review Process and Results
From July 11 to July 20, 2025, the NHSA received a total of 718 applications for the basic medical insurance drug list, covering 633 drugs by molecular names. After the initial review, 534 products passed the formal review. This included 472 applications for drugs not yet on the list, covering 393 drugs. Of these, 310 drugs passed the preliminary review, marking a significant increase from the 249 that passed in 2024.
Commercial Insurance Innovative Drug List
This year, the NHSA introduced a new Commercial Insurance Innovative Drug List, which received 141 applications covering 141 drugs. After the preliminary review, 121 drugs passed the formal review. A total of 79 drugs successfully passed the preliminary review for both the basic medical insurance list and the commercial insurance innovative drug list.
Key Drugs Included
Several key immunotherapies have been included in the preliminary review list. Notably, Opdivo (nivolumab), a first-in-class PD-1 inhibitor, entered the list for new indications and rare disease conditions. Other PD-1/L1 inhibitors that passed the preliminary review include penpulimab from Akeso, socazolimab from Zhaoke, and Tagitanlimab from Kelun Pharma.
CAR-T Cell Therapies
Three CAR-T cell therapies also passed the preliminary review: Inaticabtagene Autoleucel from Juventas Cell Therapy, Equecabtagene Autoleucel from IASO Bio, and Zevorcabtagene Autoleucel from CARsgen Therapeutics.-Fineline Info & Tech