Taiwan Today

Yeh Ching-chuan, minister of the Department of Health, responded July 23 with a big “no” to pharmaceutical companies requesting no further reductions in the coverage of medications. Lee Cheng-hua, acting general manager of the National Health Insurance Bureau, said that the bureau’s reductions in coverage for medicines whose patent terms have expired are bringing them closer to market prices. On the morning of July 23, Lee went to a drugstore with a prescription for Norvasc, a drug used to treat high blood pressure, and Omelon, a stomach medicine, both of whose patent terms have just expired. The NHIB now pays NT$18 (US$0.55) for one tablet of Norvasc. After the reductions, it will pay around NT$13. Lee bought the drug at NT$13 per tablet July 23. The NHIB will pay NT$7 for each capsule of Omelon after the cost adjustments. Lee bought it at a little over NT$6 per capsule. Lee said this means NHIB price adjustments reflect actual market conditions. Lee also pointed out that after the price adjustments, the money saved will be allocated to cancer treatments such as targeted therapy (Monoclonal antibodies treatment) and chemotherapy, as well as to treatments for Hepatitis B and C, and medications for flu virus. The NHIB is not only cutting down prices, but also offering guaranteed prices for certain low-priced older drugs still in use. Yeh emphasized that money must be spent where it is needed most. The biotech and pharmaceutical industries in Taiwan should upgrade drug quality and develop new drugs to expand their share of the global market beyond the current 0.6 percent. The NHIB surveys drug prices every other year, referring to the actual prices that pharmaceutical plants charge medical facilities. The new prices announced by the NHIB July 16 will go into effect Sept. 1. Costs for the five currently most expensive drugs will be lowered by as much as 27.6 percent. (JY-THN)