China expands essential drugs list

The China State Council outlined measures to improve the country's essential drugs list, including the addition of 187 Chinese and Western medicines. The news was announced during an Aug. 30 executive meeting.

The council, which did not release the names of specific drugs, said the expansion includes 12 cancer drugs and 22 pediatric drugs, as well as an unnamed pan-genotype, single-tablet drug to treat HCV infection. In May, Epclusa sofosbuvir/velpatasvir from Gilead Sciences Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) was approved in China to treat adults with chronic HCV genotypes 1-6 infection. Gilead said Epclusa is the first single-tablet, pan-genotypic, once-daily treatment approved in China to treat HCV. The expanded list now includes 685 drugs. ...