China's top economic planning body issued a regulation on
tightening drug pricing on Sunday.
The regulation, which will take effect as of March 1, requires
five-step procedures before fixing medicine prices, including
production cost investigation, expert evaluation and hearing
opinions from the public, the National Development and Reform
Commission announced on Sunday.
The new rules forbid drug price regulators from taking gifts of
any forms or receiving invitations for banquets and traveling
abroad from drug manufacturers.
To stem rising public complaints about high medical costs, China
has slashed drug price on 19 occasions in the 1997-2006 period,
totaling 40 billion yuan (US$5 billion).
(Xinhua News Agency February 26, 2007)