On September 5, 2024, the Guangzhou Health Commission issued the “Guangzhou Health Commission’s Ten Measures to Support the High-Quality Development of Innovative Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices,” aiming to foster the growth of innovative pharmaceuticals and medical devices.
The measures encourage private capital to participate in the construction of research hospitals and facilitate collaboration between pharmaceutical and medical device R&D personnel and clinical experts from medical institutions to boost innovative research and translational platform development. The initiative includes the launch of significant traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) science and technology projects in Guangzhou, the advancement of secondary development of major TCM varieties, and the transformation of classic TCM formulas into new TCM drugs, with support for the cross-border use of TCM preparations by eligible medical institutions.
The measures also promote further standardization and optimization of the drug and medical device hospital admission process. They call for the implementation of the removal of total variety restrictions on drugs equipped by medical institutions, and a timely conference to include nationally negotiated drugs and innovative pharmaceuticals and medical devices in the medical institution’s drug or device directory, ensuring “full allocation” and prioritizing their use.
The commission aims to expand payment channels for innovative pharmaceuticals and medical devices by assisting insurance departments in establishing special funds and diversified payment mechanisms to support their development. It supports commercial insurance companies in developing inclusive commercial health insurance products covering innovative pharmaceuticals and medical devices and explores clinical trial liability insurance for drugs and devices.
The measures also aim to optimize assessment indicators for innovative pharmaceuticals and medical devices by adding the deployment rate of nationally negotiated drugs, innovative drugs, and innovative medical devices, as well as the frequency of pharmacy management and pharmacotherapy committee meetings and medical device-related committee meetings as assessment indicators. They propose to eliminate the impact of nationally negotiated drugs, innovative drugs, and innovative diagnostic and treatment projects on indicators such as per capita drug costs and per capita medical expenses. For research personnel engaged in long-cycle basic and clinical research, the commission suggests implementing a compensation system primarily based on annual salaries and agreement wages to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship among medical institution researchers. – Flcube.com
