China News Service, March 25. The 2024 Annual Meeting of the China Development Forum will be held on March 24-25, 2024. The "Big Health Industry Symposium" was held on the afternoon of March 24. Novartis CEO Van Sihan said in his speech in the "Group Discussion 1" session: In order to ensure that Chinese patients can better benefit from innovation, The next step will be to improve the access environment for new drugs.
Wan Sihan said that biopharmaceutical innovation plays a key role in promoting economic growth and social progress, and China should focus on three specific areas when formulating and implementing relevant policies.
The first is to strengthen the intellectual property protection system.
China has done a lot of work in recognizing intellectual property rights as an institutional guarantee for innovation. On the one hand, it has optimized the early resolution mechanism for patent disputes and expanded its coverage to include more patent types; on the other hand, it has accelerated the implementation of the extension of the patent period of new drugs. Rules, establish and implement regulatory data protection rules.
The second is to optimize the supervision mechanism.
China has made more efforts to simplify the regulatory framework and has established a very mature regulatory system. As a result, the total number of clinical trial registrations in China increased by more than 130% from 2017 to 2022. However, as advanced technologies continue to emerge, the continuous adjustment of the regulatory system and its integration with international standards will become crucial. It is especially important to ensure that new drugs are in line with international standards.
The third is to improve patients’ access to innovative treatments and strengthen the healthcare system.
From the data point of view, the number of new drugs launched and registered in China is second only to the United States. The time from approval to inclusion of new drugs in the World Drug List has been shortened from about 5 years in 2017 to 1 year in 2023. More than 80% of innovative drugs can be included in the National New Drug List within 2 years after being launched.
Wan Sihan proposed, "Innovation can only create value when it is used by patients." Therefore, in order to ensure that Chinese patients can better benefit from innovation, the next step will be to improve the access environment for new drugs, including establishing multi-level medical security system, improve the value framework, ensure sustainable and predictable drug prices throughout the life cycle, etc.