Tax, other costs lead to more expensive drugs
Print Edition
Tax, additional pricing and bloated circulation fees lead to imported medicines being sold at higher prices on the Chinese mainland compared to Hong Kong, Guo Jianying, a senior official with the pricing division of the National Development and Reform Commission, said on Saturday.
The comments came amid heated public debate over Hong Kong’s lower prices for imported pharmaceuticals, which has reportedly attracted many mainland buyers.
Guo said among the more than 300 foreign original medicines that fall within the supervision of mainland authorities, around 80 percent are sold at prices higher than in South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan, while some 70 percent are cheaper than in Europe, the US and Japan.
He said the mainland has a 5 percent levy on the manufacturer’s price and a further value-added tax of 17 percent, both of which are not levied in Hong Kong.
Also, mainland hospitals add 15 percent to the cost based on the manufacturer’s price as a means to ensure hospitals have appropriate funding sources, Guo said.
He also said the mainland has a circulation fee of up to 20 percent of the manufacturer’s price, which is also not charged in Hong Kong.
Guo said on the mainland, the government’s drug pricing regulation is mainly to place a cap on retail prices.
The regulation does not cover all medicines, but only essential drugs included in the health insurance scheme and those that have a monopoly in the market, added Guo.
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