Fu Yisheng's expression was very calm, speaking without haste or urgency: "As far as I know, the fundamental reason for domestic drug prices being higher than those abroad is that in mainland China, imported drugs are subject to a 3%—6% tariff, which was recently abolished, but there is still a 17% value-added tax, a 15% hospital markup, and a 20% circulation fee, while in many countries abroad, the VAT for pharmaceuticals is 0."
The high price of foreign specialty drugs is even higher domestically, fundamentally unrelated to the manufacturer.
The birth of every drug involves a huge R&D investment by manufacturers. Take these two anti-cancer specialty drugs, for example; people only see that a three-month supply costs upwards of ten thousand US Dollars, but don't know that one of these drugs took a full sixteen years to develop and cost hundreds of millions of US Dollars, and it was only approved after nearly four years of clinical trials before being launched domestically.
