Drug Price Control Of The Pharmaceutical Market In China A Comparative Study With The Italian Pharmaceutical Market

The drug market presents particular characteristics which make it a unique market, vulnerable without regulation. To understand the dynamic nature of pharmaceutical markets there are several specific features of the industry to take into account. A fundamental peculiarity of this market is the importance and the close relation of medicines to good health, which underlines how important is the drug as a commodity for the purchaser, therefore its quality and safety should be guaranteed. Another characteristic is the demand of medicines, which is partially generated by doctors, so the consumer is not completely free to choose. Hence it is crucial for policymakers to consider the behavior of patients, doctors, and industry.In China, economic development and gradual incautious health care reform still have various problems on the pharmaceutical sector including lack of supervision, irrational reimbursement to hospitals and doctors, consequent inappropriate drug prescriptions, disorganized supply and distribution systems, and ultimately overpriced drugs. In particular expensive medicine cost is always a substantial problem in the overall healthcare that most people complain about in China.A different healthcare system, in Italy, provides a universal healthcare coverage financed by the state with affordable or no-cost medicines. The experience of pharmaceutical regulation implemented in Italy provides some useful material to be considered carefully by policymakers in China and around the world.In the light of these considerations, how is the world’s most populated country assessing the issue of high price of medicines? This paper aims to describe and assess China’s complex pharmaceutical supply chain, focusing on the reasons why the price regulation for medicines tends to fail. Ultimately this study provides a comparison with the Italian system with some reflections and a proposed framework on policy plan for the current implemented reform.The research method is based on literature review, theoretical descriptive analysis and freely available data by searching electronic databases of official web pages of the Chinese government on the internet.