The National Health and Family Planning Commission of China is trying to negotiate with pharmaceutical firms to slash the prices of five drugs which are used to treat cancer and other major diseases. This is part of a pilot program to reduce healthcare cost for patients, the head of the commission Li Bin, said on Tuesday.

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The five drugs are very expensive as they are either patented or imported. Therefore, China is attempting to reach an agreement with the companies to chop the prices of the drugs by at least half, Li told media.

However, he did not specify which companies or drugs he was referring to. However, he stressed that once both parties have come to an agreement, the said drugs will then be covered by state health insurance, according to Xinhua news agency.

In China, drugs for cancer and other major illnesses are usually sold in public hospitals, and this makes a profit from them. Moreover, the country's pharmaceutical industry is widely dominated by foreign companies, who distribute drugs to medical facilities.

One of the main issues in China is the expensive cost of healthcare. The country's poor health insurance coverage is reportedly burning up the savings of families as they struggle to buy medicines alone. With this initiative, authorities are hoping to satisfy people's need for drugs and fix problems associated with expensive patented and imported medicines, Li explained.

According to a 2015 report by Deutsche Bank, Swiss company Roche Holding AG is leading the Chinese drug market, followed by Qilu Pharmaceutical, Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine, Jilin Adon Pharmaceutical Group and Britain's AstraZeneca PLC.

Tagschina, Pharmaceutical companies, healthcare, Cancer Drugs, National Health and Family Planning Commission