ArticleBMJ open2022
Impact of '4+7' volume-based drug procurement on the use of policy-related original and generic drugs: a natural experimental study in China.
Article in BMJ open, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
42 citing papers in PubMed, 47 citations in OpenAlex.
- Impact of national volume-based procurement on physicians' antimicrobial prescribing behaviours: an interrupted time series analysis of 1200 prescriptions in a tertiary hospital.Annals of medicine · 2026Article
- Article
- Changes in the burden of lower respiratory infections in China before and after the implementation of the national centralized drug procurement policy.Infectious medicine · 2026Article
- Protocol for a laboratory-developed chromogenic anti-Xa assay for rivaroxaban monitoring.MethodsX · 2026Article
- Analysis of the impact of national centralized volume-based procurement drug policy on the market dynamics of tuberculosis drugs.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Has volume-based procurement reduced household catastrophic health expenditure in rural patients with chronic disease?-Evidence from CHARLS 2018 and 2020 in China.Health economics review · 2026Article
- The differential impact of Diagnosis-Related Groups (DRG) on hierarchical hospitals: an interrupted time series analysis on health expenditure structure.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Reforming the white coat economy: judicial evidence and institutional implications from China's healthcare anti-corruption campaign.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Comparison of affordability and availability of antidepressants in China from 2019 to 2022: evidence from national procurement database.Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice · 2026Article
- The impact of the consistency evaluation policy of generic drugs on the integration of innovation chain and industrial chain in the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- A study on the availability of national centralized drug procurement in regions with different levels of economic development: an investigation and analysis of 31 provincial-level administrative regions in China.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Article
- Impact of the volume-based procurement for intraocular lenses combined with the diagnosis-related group's payment reform on hospitalization costs and expenditure structure among cataract patients: an interrupted time series analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Cadonilimab plus chemotherapy compared to chemotherapy as first-line treatment for persistent, recurrent, or metastatic cervical cancer in China: a cost-effectiveness analysis.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Impact of national volume-based procurement reform on the markup of pharmaceutical firms: an event study.Cost effectiveness and resource allocation : C/E · 2025Article
- Impact of pooled procurement of medicines on patient adherence and economic burden: evidence from China.Journal of global health · 2025Article
- Comparison of treatment patterns, efficacy and safety between generic and branded atorvastatin users in China: a multicenter, retrospective propensity score-matched cohort study.Lipids in health and disease · 2025Article
- Effects of Generic Entry on Market Shares and Prices of Originator Drugs: Evidence from Chinese Pharmaceutical Market.PharmacoEconomics - open · 2025Article
- Changes in Clinical Trials of Dermatological Drugs in Mainland China Between 2016 and 2022: A Narrative Review.Therapeutic innovation & regulatory science · 2025Review
- Intended and Unintended Impacts of '4+7' Volume-Based Drug Procurement on the Use of Drugs in China: A Natural Experimental Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Impacts of Chinese national centralized volume-based procurement policy targeting meropenem on prescription of designated antimicrobials for inpatients: an interrupted time series analysis.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo evaluate the impact of the first round of the National Centralized Drug Procurement pilot (so-called '4+7' policy) on the use of policy-related original and generic drugs.
methodsA retrospective natural experimental design was adopted. Drug procurement data from the China Drug Supply Information Platform database were used, involving 9 '4+7' pilot cities in intervention group and 12 non-pilot provinces in control group. '4+7' policy-related drugs were selected as study samples, including 25 drugs in the '4+7' procurement list and their alternative drugs that have not yet been covered by the policy. '4+7' List drugs were divided into bid-winning and non-winning products according to the bidding results. Included drugs were sorted into original and generic products. Difference-in-difference method was employed to estimate the net effect of policy impact.
resultsAfter policy intervention, the DDDs (defined daily doses) of '4+7' List original drugs significantly reduced (
conclusions'4+7' policy is conducive to generic substitution, drug price reduction and pharmaceutical cost-containment in China. The overall quality level of drug use of the Chinese population increased after policy intervention, especially in primary healthcare settings. However, the increased DDDc of non-winning generic drugs and alternative drugs should draw the importance of further policy monitoring.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.