In the New Year of the Horse, the clinical application of global innovative drugs is also accelerating in Shanghai. Today (March 2), Shanghai held the second new national innovative drug promotion conference in 2026 focusing on imported varieties. Representatives of many world-renowned pharmaceutical companies attended the conference with their "world's first" and "domestic debut". This is the second promotion after the first promotion on January 15 this year. It is a special session focusing on "imported drugs". It not only sends a signal that the promotion will be more segmented in the future, but also sends a signal that the promotion will be more frequent and intensive.
"High concentration output" in 10 minutes, representatives of imported pharmaceutical companies value the "demonstration effect"
The "National Basic Medical Insurance, Maternity Insurance and Work Injury Insurance Drug Catalogue" will be officially implemented from January 1, 2026. This new version of the national medical insurance drug catalog adds 114 new drugs, 50 of which are Category I innovative drugs involving tumors, chronic diseases, rare diseases and other fields.
With the implementation of the new version of the catalog, people's medication burden will undoubtedly be further reduced. Public hospitals are the main setting for Chinese people to take medicines. So, can the state-controlled medicines in these catalogs be dispensed in hospitals? Are some of the imported drugs that people are concerned about available in hospitals?
In order to optimize the development environment of the city's leading biopharmaceutical industries, further enhance its attractiveness to domestic and foreign biopharmaceutical companies, and promote the admission application of new nationally negotiated innovative drugs to benefit patients, the Nationally Negotiated Innovative Drug Promotion Conference came into being in Shanghai and has been going on for several years. It is worth noting that, based on the first one this year, the second one launched more than a month later focused on imported varieties, attracting nearly 50 representatives from medical institutions and 12 representatives from pharmaceutical companies.
A company, a drug, and a 10-minute promotion can be described as "high-concentration output." Representatives from Boehringer Ingelheim (China) Investment Co., Ltd. came with tenecteplase for injection, a new generation of thrombolytic drug developed by the company. In May 2025, it was approved by the China National Medical Products Administration for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke (AIS) within 4.5 hours after onset. One of its major features is that it can achieve "5-second administration." Such rapid administration will undoubtedly win more "wins" for the clinical treatment of acute ischemic stroke, which is a race against time, and also win more lives for patients.
"This is a very good platform to communicate face-to-face with hospital experts on the clinical value of new drugs. From the scientific research innovation end to the clinical application end, such promotions will become a good bridge. We are very concerned that innovative drugs can be used by more patients and save more lives." Lau Rodrigo, head of therapeutic areas at Boehringer Ingelheim Rodrigo also said that the promotion meeting will also have a good demonstration effect, "Shanghai is one of the most influential cities in the Yangtze River Delta and China, and the clinical application process in Shanghai will also bring leadership and demonstration effects to other regions."
The arrival of the "world's first" and "domestic first" product ensures that patients can use and afford good medicines
At the meeting, 12 responsible companies successively introduced in detail the 18 innovative products newly included in the 2025 version of the National Medical Insurance Drug Catalog, focusing on key information such as product characteristics, innovation advantages, and effect benefits. By quickly outputting core content to medical professionals, it helped relevant hospital experts understand the clinical value of innovative drugs in a short period of time and facilitate subsequent practical applications. According to relevant companies, there are many "world's first", "domestic first", "latest breakthrough" and "authoritative recommendation" products, providing more high-quality choices for clinical medication.
"In recent years, there have been many innovative drugs in the national medicines, involving hematological tumors, autoimmune diseases, rare diseases, etc., which are also consistent with the clinical disciplines and disease diagnosis and treatment types of our hospital. Ruijin Hospital attaches great importance to the admission of national medicines. After the catalog was released at the end of last year, it convened a pharmaceutical council meeting as soon as possible to ensure that the catalog is updated first. time and clinical application on January 1 this year to ensure that patients can use and afford nationally-rated innovative and good drugs." Bian Xiaolan, director of the Pharmacy Department of Ruijin Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, also said that the emergence of innovative drugs is a good thing. At the same time, front-line doctors and pharmacists must also speed up their own "pharmaceutical updates" to understand and make good use of new drugs. In this process, the normalization and detailed promotion of such promotion meetings in Shanghai are in line with clinical needs.
In recent years, the Municipal Medical Insurance Bureau and other relevant departments have collaborated to implement the national policy of “truly supporting innovation, supporting true innovation”, focusing on key aspects of clinical application, innovatively building a “face-to-face” communication platform, and providing efficient and smooth interactive scenarios for hospitals and enterprises, aiming to solve the difficulties and blockages in admissions and accelerate the “last mile” of admissions for innovative drugs. This promotion meeting focuses on some of the newly added imported varieties of nationally discussed innovative drugs. It is also hoped that by improving the fit between drug indications and hospital drug use scenarios, the effect of the promotion activities will be further enhanced, more targeted medical enterprise docking will be achieved, and foreign innovative drugs will benefit domestic patients.
This event is jointly guided by the Municipal Medical Insurance Bureau, Municipal Health Commission, and Shenkang Hospital Development Center, and hosted by the Municipal Medical Insurance Association. In the next step, the Municipal Medical Insurance Bureau and other relevant departments will continue to focus on the goal of promoting the admission use of state-controlled innovative drugs, ensuring effective benefits and reaching patients, continue to build platforms, promote exchanges, and coordinate policies, and carry out a series of promotion activities to inject continuous momentum into Shanghai's construction of an "innovative drug and device friendly city" and accelerating the establishment of a biopharmaceutical industry innovation highland with global influence.
