Legal Issues Of Drug Procurement Agencies

That drug prices are high artificially and corruption happens have always been the serious problem faced by the pharmaceutical industry,in order to change this situation,China implemented the centralized drug procurement system and the government set up specialized agencies to manage from 2000.Drug procurement agency is a non-profit institution composed of leading agency,management institution and working organization,and the corresponding centralized procurement platform.The dominant model of drug procurement agency has played a certain role in reducing drug prices,but for a variety of reasons,the implementation of drug centralized procurement system is not ideal.From the drug procurement agency itself,the main problems are as follows:First,the subject positioning is not accurate.Drug procurement agency in the current system is not only a regulator,but also the actual organizer and executor of drug bidding procurement,to perform a lot of functions and powers that should be beared by medical institutions.This will not only lead to the lack of quality of medicines to meet the needs of medical institutions,but also increase the risk of drug procurement agencies involved.In the long run,we should establish the bidding subject status of the medical institutions,the relevant government departments should play a better role of the rule makers and regulators,weakening the direct procurement of bidding procurement activities.Second,the authority of the various departments is unreasonable.Drug procurement agency is a multi-sectoral body and each member has their duties.In the actual work,there are many situations where the departments'interests are inconsistent,but there is a lack of coordination department within the drug procurement agency.Moreover,in terms of existing institutions of authority set up,there are many overlapping situations,about to investigate complaints and accusations of discretion,for example,leading agency,management institution and work institution all have the authority,and which functional department takes main responsibility is unclear.In the comprehensive analysis,the health administrative department is most suitable for carrying out the coordination right.Third,there is a lack of legal responsibility.In particular,in the area of civil liability,article 71 and 72 of the Government Procurement Law are inevitably omitted from enumerated legislation and focus on the scope of the debt of contract,and in addition to the problems of lax law enforcement existed in the practice,legal responsibility of punishment and the deterrent effect is limited.Based on this,the relevant provisions of the law should increase the save clause,and include the intellectual property damage,personal injury and other infringing debt caused by drug procurement agency,to guarantee the legitimate rights and interests of relevant subjects.At last,the supervision mechanism is imperfect.Drug procurement agency occupies a dominant position in the centralized procurement system and enjoys many rights and also bears a number of obligations,it is necessary to strengthen supervision and management of the agency.At present,the main bodies responsible for the supervision of drug procurement agency are the government departments,it is clear that this self-monitoring model has little effect.We should make judicial supervision play an active role in it,and also disclose relevant information to better accept the supervision from the public.