Reported by Lin Hui-Cin from Taipei

Legislator Huang Kuo-Chang pointed out in the Economic Committee of the Legislative Yuan that there is a concern over the monopoly on NHI-reimbursed colorectal cancer drugs as the Fair Trade Commission mentioned that the market involves the NHI drug price negotiation mechanism.  Huang Zhou-Jei of the NHIA expressed that the NHIA does not involve in the price negotiation between drug suppliers and hospitals.  The NHIA is only responsible for setting the NHI payment prices; and it is the Fair Trade Commission’s responsibility to investigate, said Huang Zhou-Jei.

Huang Zhou-Jei expressed that there are three colorectal cancer drugs licensed to TTY, Otsuka and Lotus Pharm respectively which may have caused Legislator Huang’s concern.  Among them, Lotus dropped its colorectal cancer drug from the NHI reimbursement list two years ago.  The reimbursement price of the other two products dropped from NT$77 in Year 2000 to NT$65 this year.

Huang Zhou-Jei mentioned that the NHIA would annually cross-examine the selling prices and the purchase prices of NHI-reimbursed drugs so as to verify the accuracy of the drug sales data.  As for whether a drug company constitute a breach of the Fair Trade Law, it is subject to the Fair Trade Commission’s investigation.

TTY issued a statement declaring that the company has not breached the Fair Trade Law.  The statement pointed out that the drug license and the NHI payment price were obtained based on expert’s review of the drug’s clinical data submitted by the company.

TTY also pointed out that the decision of the treatments and medication for colorectal cancer is made by doctors according to their professional assessment of patients’ conditions.  It is almost impossible to monopolize the market, not to mention that the TTY’s product only accounts for 2% of the total colorectal cancer treatment market.

【2018-12-10/ Liberty Times】