The National Health Insurance administration (NHIA) On November 20 amended the "National Health Insurance Fee Schedule and Reference List for Drugs" and “Regulations of Price Adjustment for National Health Insurance Reimbursed Drugs,” which are undergoing notice-and-comment concluding Jan. 20, 2025.

Huang Yu-wen, chief of the NHIA's Medical Review and Pharmaceutical Benefits Division, outlined the following policy changes:

1. To encourage domestic development, preferential NHI reimbursement pricing will be given to domestically produced drugs that have been introduced to Taiwan within two years of initial introduction in the A10 countries; as well as new drugs those containing novel ingredients but have not yet obtained in Taiwan but have been approved in the A10 countries in the past five years.

2. To speed up approval of generics and biosimilars, domestic manufacturers that have received two generic drug licenses for generics of within five years of patent expiration of innovator drugs will be reimbursed at the same rates as the innovator drugs.

3. To encourage ample drug supply, an additional 10% will be added to the NHI reimbursement pricing of drugs made with domestically sourced active pharmaceutical ingredients; or those whose safety have been vetted with domestic clinical trials and published papers at international medical journals; and the first candidate drug to submit a P4 declaration.

4. To ensure fair pricing for domestic drugs, drug pricing adjustments will be waived for candidate drugs with two or fewer substitutes.

Division Chief Huang said that once these amendments come into effect, drug pricing and adjustments under the Drug Expenditure Target pilot project will align with the revised regulations. Division Chief Huang also revealed plans to hold a discussion by the end of the year on the ongoing three-year pilot program for biosimilars, launched earlier this year.

[2024-11-20/ United Daily News]