Since yesterday, many have been flooded with news about the "soul-striking price cut to 4.4 yuan." This time, it's not about pyramid schemes or "friendship-destroying" activities like group buying on Pinduoduo, but tangible benefits for the nation—the price of diabetes drug Dapagliflozin was slashed from 5.62 yuan per tablet to 4.36 yuan, ultimately settling at what is now the world's lowest price!

Review of the Strongest Medical Insurance Negotiation

Elimination Warning! The Price Battle Between AstraZeneca and the Medical Insurance Bureau

Before negotiations began, the medical insurance bureau experts got straight to the point: "Companies can make their offers. If both bids fail to meet our target price, then we can only regretfully eliminate you."

Only after reaching the target price of the medical insurance bureau did the real "battle" begin.

AstraZeneca's dapagliflozin tablets have shown good blood sugar-lowering effects for patients with type 2 diabetes. With a market price of 15.96 yuan per tablet (10mg), this undoubtedly creates a significant financial burden for patients who require lifelong diabetes management.

Reviewing the Toughest Medical Insurance Negotiation: The "Soul-Cutting" Price Drop of Dapagliflozin Tablets

During the medical insurance negotiation, after the pharmaceutical company representative initially offered 5.62 yuan per tablet, the price was continuously slashed from 4.72 yuan to 4.62 yuan, then 4.50 yuan and 4.40 yuan, with further reductions still demanded...

The medical insurance bureau experts suddenly employed a negotiation tactic that most Chinese people find hard to resist: "The number sounds unlucky." The commonly used diabetes medication dapagliflozin tablets saw their price drop another 4 cents when the experts stated: "We Chinese people don't like the number 4." The final negotiated price of 4.36 yuan per tablet represents the lowest global price achieved to date.

China's vast market is becoming increasingly attractive to foreign pharmaceutical companies, while the country's large patient population and the need to reduce healthcare costs and improve medical quality also require the entry and "cooperation" of these foreign enterprises. This "soul-cutting" price reduction could very well be the hope for impoverished patients struggling on the brink of abandoning treatment.

Trade price for volume! Life-saving "luxury drugs" now offered at "affordable prices"

Apart from the legendary price cut for dapagliflozin tablets being just one highlight of the three-day intense medical insurance negotiations, according to Xiong Xianjun, Director of the Medical Service Management Department of the National Healthcare Security Administration, a total of 128 drug varieties were newly included in the negotiations, with 119 drugs confirmed for negotiation. The results show that only 70 were successfully negotiated. Although the success rate wasn't high, the average price reduction for negotiated drugs reached 60.7%, meaning patients would only need to pay 5%-15% of the original drug price out of pocket. Additionally, among the 31 drugs up for contract renewal, 27 were successfully renegotiated with an average price reduction of 26.4%.

Review of the Strongest Medical Insurance Negotiations: "King of Drugs" Price Slashed by 83%

Aside from the diabetes medication dapagliflozin tablets, ruxolitinib phosphate for myelofibrosis, which "missed out" last year, was also offered at the world's lowest price this year. Meanwhile, the immunotherapy drug Humira, dubbed the "king of drugs" in the industry, saw its price slashed dramatically from 7,600 yuan per dose to 1,290 yuan.

Most of the drugs successfully negotiated this time are newly launched in recent years with high clinical value, including 7 drugs for rare diseases, 22 anticancer drugs, 14 drugs for common chronic diseases such as diabetes, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and rheumatoid arthritis, as well as 4 pediatric medications.

Previously, many life-saving medications had extremely low usage rates in China due to their high prices. After this negotiation, these expensive drugs have become more accessible to the general public. The market strategy of "exchanging price for volume" benefits all three parties: the nation, pharmaceutical companies, and patients.