China Medical News

On November 15^th, Shanghai Pharmaceutical Centralized Bidding and Purchasing Management Office published a document called "4 + 7 City; Drug Centralized Procurement Document” which outlined the application procedures and requirements for the drug manufacturers.

According to this document, with the approval of the Central Comprehensive Reform Committee, the state organized a pilot program for centralized drug procurement, which included 11 cities; Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Chongqing, Shenyang, Dalian, Xiamen, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, and Xi'an (the 4+7 cities). Representatives from the pilot areas will form a Joint Procurement Office as a working organization to implement centralized drug purchasing on behalf of the public medical institutions in the pilot areas. The daily work and specific implementation will be undertaken by the Shanghai Pharmaceutical Centralized Bidding and Purchasing Management Office.

There are 31 drugs listed in the centralized procurement catalogue, and the largest purchase volume is the 5mg amlodipine oral regular release dosage form (293 million tablets), and the smallest purchase volume is the 500mg pemetrexed injection (22,900 pieces). The Joint Procurement Office will accept applications from December 6, 2018, and the negotiations will begin on the same day. (Source: Shanghai Sunshine Medical procurement All-In-One website)