The Chinese government said it would add AstraZeneca’s blockbuster breast cancer drug Enhertu to its state-run health insurance scheme from the start of next year.
Inclusion in the national reimbursement list makes the drug more widely available to the public in China, although higher sales volume is typically tempered by lower prices, as the Chinese state expects considerable discounts for the treatments to be included on the list. This year the average price cut for drugs added to the list was 63 per cent.
The addition comes despite the Chinese government’s continuing investigation into AstraZeneca’s alleged illegal sales practices in the country.
Shares in Britain’s biggest pharmaceuticals company have fallen by more than 20 per cent since peaking in September amid concerns over the extent of inquiries by Chinese authorities in its second-biggest market.
While AstraZeneca has said that the company is not itself understood to be under investigation, Leon Wang, its executive vice-president for international and China president, was detained in Shenzhen by police.
Separately, about 100 former employees have been sentenced over an unconnected alleged medical insurance fraud investigation dating back three years where patient test results were allegedly falsified to qualify patients for reimbursement for its Tagrisso cancer drug.
The authorities are also pursuing an investigation into the alleged illegal importation of unapproved medicines from Hong Kong into mainland China and the inappropriate collection of patient data.
This inquiry is believed to relate to Enhertu and two other cancer drugs, Imjudo and Imfinzi. AstraZeneca has said it is aware of two current and two former executives in China who are under investigation out of about eight individuals.
After news of the addition, shares in the company closed up by 62p, or 0.6 per cent, to £105.94.
Enhertu, one of AstraZeneca’s top-selling products, with $2.7 billion in global sales in the first three quarters of this year, targets the HER2 protein, which promotes the growth of cancer cells.
It was one of 91 drugs that were added to the list, with major pharmaceutical companies including Johnson & Johnson, Bristol Myers Squibb, Roche Holding, Sanofi and Merck also having products included.
A number of homegrown biotech companies, such as Akeso, which won insurance coverage for the lung cancer drug ivonescimab and the cervical cancer treatment cadonilimab, were also included on the list.
Among the new entrants, a record 38 are innovative medicines, according to China’s National Healthcare Security Administration, which oversees the country’s national medical insurance.
