Alzheimer's Drug Manufacturer Mulling Exiting Taiwan Market 阿茲海默藥砍3成 健保署:廠商不退台灣市場

The National Health Insurance Administration has announced price cuts for over 5,000 medications, with some of them seeing price cuts nearing 30 percent. It is rumored that the drug manufacturer of the Alzheimer's drug Ebixa is considering exiting the Taiwan market as a result, leading to concerns of  patients and their families.The NHIA says it is negotiating with the pharmaceutical and it guarantees the drug will never leave.  

The National Health Insurance Administration has announced price increases for 36 medications and price decreases for 5,475 medications. The top three categories of affected medications are cardiovascular drugs, nervous system drugs and systemic anti-infectives.

Shen Tsai-ying, Pharmacist: “Some older medications are available for less than NT$5 or even NT$2. Why do they still exist? It's because they have value as they are prescribed to many people. Is this endangering disease control?”

Chen Chien-jen, ROC Premier: “In the future, we will provide special support for setting up generic drug factories in our country so that these generic drugs can be produced domestically.”

The average price adjustment for the 5,511 medications is 2.2 percent, the lowest in 10 years. The biggest price adjustment was for the 10mg dose of Alzheimer's drug Ebixa, which was lowered by 30 percent from NT$8.9 to NT$6.3 per tablet. Due to the price cut, the pharmaceutical is considering exiting the Taiwan market.

Hung Tzu-jen, Vice Superintendent, Shin Kong Hospital: “We have tons of similar generic drug manufacturers that can replace the supply, so it's not a big deal if they leave. It's just that patients (that were on Ebixa) will have to go through an adjustment period or side effects when they switch medications.”

Ebixa is a brand-name drug with 5-60,000 users in Taiwan. The NHIA says it is negotiating with the pharmaceutical and it guarantees the drug will never leave the Taiwan market. 

健保署日前公告今（2023）年的藥價調整。這次共調升36項藥品，調降5475項藥品中，調降幅度前3大類，包含心臟血管用藥、神經系統用藥，以及全身性抗感染劑。

藥師沈采穎質疑：「5塊以下、甚至有些是2塊以下的藥品，我想這些都是老藥。可是老藥為什麼會存在，就是說它有它存在的價值，而且是有滿多病人在吃的。這個會不會危及到民眾的一個疾病的控制？」

行政院長陳建仁表示：「未來也會加強對於我國的學名藥廠，給予特別的支持。讓這一些國產的學名藥廠，都能夠更佳的健全，能夠做更好的生產的安排。」

健保署指出，調整的5511項藥品，平均調幅是2.2%，是10年來最低。不過，在這次的調降藥品中，有一款治療阿茲海默的憶必佳膜衣錠10公絲，調整前是每顆8.9元，調整後被砍到6.3元，砍價幅度直逼3成，是調降品項中被砍最多的藥品。傳出藥廠不滿健保砍價，考慮退出台灣市場。

新光醫院副院長洪子仁說明：「我們有非常多相似的這個學名藥的廠商，是可以來替代這個藥物，所以基本上影響是不大。只是說如果原來就使用這個原廠藥物的民眾，他就必須要去承擔，換藥過程中的一點不適應。」

據了解，憶必佳膜衣錠10公絲是原廠藥，目前台灣約有5到6萬人使用這款藥品。健保署回應，藥廠已經提交藥價成本分析表，雙方議價中，這款藥品確定不會退出台灣市場，患者不用太擔心。