China expands medical insurance drug catalogue to cover 90 rare disease

These treat conditions like hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and intractable epilepsy.

China’s National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA) added a total of 13 new rare-disease drugs to the national medical insurance drug catalogue, bringing the total number of such covered drugs to over 90. 

The newly added drugs treat conditions like hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, intractable epilepsy, and paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria.

The NHSA has been steadily increasing the number of covered rare diseases in recent years, including spinal muscular atrophy, Gaucher disease, and myasthenia gravis.

To further improve access to care, China has also established a national collaboration network for rare-disease diagnosis and treatment. 

Over 400 medical institutions have joined this network, which utilises medical referrals and telemedicine to connect patients with specialised care across the country.