Market needs say in pricing meds

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has lowered drug and medicine prices more than 30 times over recent years. Yet some drugs are still being sold at inflated prices, while other low-cost medicines are often in short supply.

As in all markets, pricing is a key factor in the sale of medicines as it naturally affects the supply and demand of various products. The NDRC's decrees alone cannot effectively lower medicine prices because the commission's regulations clash with the natural order of the drug market.

Regulators must give more leeway to drugmakers when it comes to setting the prices of their products. This is not to suggest that proper supervision is unnecessary with various factors affecting prices. While the government does have a responsibility to regulate prices of electricity, water, medicine and other services and commodities that are closely related to the public good, allowing the market to play its role in resource allocation is essential in coordinating the healthy development of the drug industry. Only by granting more discretion to drugmakers will efforts to reform the medical industry truly be realized.