MOH Issues Management Practice of National Essential Drugs Category    

In order to implement the medical and health system reformation and establish the management mechanism for the selection and adjustment of the national essential drugs category, the Chinese Ministry of Health (MOH) makes up the "Management Practice of the National Essential Drugs Category" and announces that this practice will be effective August 18th, 2009.
   This practice states that the essential drugs must meet the basic health needs and have suitable formulations and rational prices so that the supply of drugs can be guaranteed and the public can obtain such drugs fairly. All government-run primary healthcare organizations must be equipped with the essential drugs and administer them to patients. Other types of medical institutions must administer the essential drugs in accordance with the practice.    
   The drugs covered in the National Essential Drugs Category include chemical medicines, biological products and Chinese traditional medicine formulations.
   These drugs should have been collected in Pharmacopoeia of the People's Republic of China and meet the drug standards promulgated by the MOH and China's State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA).
    MOH is responsible for organizing and establishing the judgment expert database for national essential drugs, subject to the National Essential Drug Working Committee for review.
   While maintaining a relatively stable size, MOH will implement a dynamic management on the National Essential Drugs Category. In principle, the category should be adjusted once every three years. Under the approval of the National Essential Drugs Working Committee, the category can be adjusted timely when necessary. Factors leading to such adjustment include the monitoring and evaluation of adverse drug reactions and national essential drug applications, the evidence-based medicine of marketed drugs and pharmaco-economics evaluation.