China has released the first edition of the Catalogue of Innovative Drugs Covered by Commercial Health Insurance, which includes 19 drugs developed by 18 innovative pharmaceutical enterprises. Relevant drugs produced by major U.S. pharmaceutical companies such as Eli Lilly, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson, as well as Japan’s Eisai, have been included in the list.

According to reports from Bloomberg, Southern Network and The Paper, the 2025 China Innovative Drugs High-Quality Development Conference was held in Guangzhou on Sunday (December 7). The conference announced that 69 innovative drugs have been approved for marketing in China so far this year, hitting a new record high.

The aforementioned catalogue was also released at the conference, covering drugs for the treatment of tumors, rare diseases and chronic conditions, as well as much-discussed medications for Alzheimer’s disease.

The newly developed Alzheimer’s drugs Donanemab (Kisunla) by Eli Lilly (U.S.) and Lecanemab (Leqembi) by Eisai (Japan), along with a variety of anticancer drugs from Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and Bristol-Myers Squibb of the United States, have all been included in the catalogue.

Products from a number of Chinese domestic pharmaceutical companies are also listed, including five enterprises that offer CAR-T cell therapies for cancer treatment. BeiGene, a Beijing-founded multinational pharmaceutical firm, is the only enterprise with two drugs selected for the catalogue.

These drugs were not included in China’s national medical insurance system due to their excessively high prices, and are now recommended to be covered by commercial health insurance.

As explained, the catalogue defines the coverage boundaries between basic medical insurance and commercial insurance. The former mainly includes drugs that are safe, reliable, clinically efficacious and feature mature target mechanisms, while the latter focuses more on cutting-edge innovative drugs.

The Chinese government has not yet announced the price reduction range for drugs in the commercial insurance catalogue. Last month, China Business News quoted pharmaceutical industry insiders as saying that the proposed price reduction range for innovative drugs under commercial insurance is 15% to 50%, which is lower than the average 60% reduction required for inclusion in the national medical insurance list.

Some analysts believe that the commercial insurance catalogue is expected to alleviate the burden on China’s medical insurance system. It will also help Chinese and foreign pharmaceutical companies sell their drugs at higher prices, thus improving profit margins that have been squeezed by price negotiations under the national medical insurance scheme.

China has released the first edition of the Catalogue of Innovative Drugs Covered by Commercial Health Insurance, which includes 19 drugs developed by 18 innovative pharmaceutical enterprises. Relevant drugs produced by major U.S. pharmaceutical companies such as Eli Lilly, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson, as well as Japan’s Eisai, have been included in the list.

According to reports from Bloomberg, Southern Network and The Paper, the 2025 China Innovative Drugs High-Quality Development Conference was held in Guangzhou on Sunday (December 7). The conference announced that 69 innovative drugs have been approved for marketing in China so far this year, hitting a new record high.

The aforementioned catalogue was also released at the conference, covering drugs for the treatment of tumors, rare diseases and chronic conditions, as well as much-discussed medications for Alzheimer’s disease.

The newly developed Alzheimer’s drugs Donanemab (Kisunla) by Eli Lilly (U.S.) and Lecanemab (Leqembi) by Eisai (Japan), along with a variety of anticancer drugs from Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and Bristol-Myers Squibb of the United States, have all been included in the catalogue.

Products from a number of Chinese domestic pharmaceutical companies are also listed, including five enterprises that offer CAR-T cell therapies for cancer treatment. BeiGene, a Beijing-founded multinational pharmaceutical firm, is the only enterprise with two drugs selected for the catalogue.

These drugs were not included in China’s national medical insurance system due to their excessively high prices, and are now recommended to be covered by commercial health insurance.

As explained, the catalogue defines the coverage boundaries between basic medical insurance and commercial insurance. The former mainly includes drugs that are safe, reliable, clinically efficacious and feature mature target mechanisms, while the latter focuses more on cutting-edge innovative drugs.

The Chinese government has not yet announced the price reduction range for drugs in the commercial insurance catalogue. Last month, China Business News quoted pharmaceutical industry insiders as saying that the proposed price reduction range for innovative drugs under commercial insurance is 15% to 50%, which is lower than the average 60% reduction required for inclusion in the national medical insurance list.

Some analysts believe that the commercial insurance catalogue is expected to alleviate the burden on China’s medical insurance system. It will also help Chinese and foreign pharmaceutical companies sell their drugs at higher prices, thus improving profit margins that have been squeezed by price negotiations under the national medical insurance scheme.