Evaluating the national system for rare diseases in China from the point of drug access: progress and challenges

BACKGROUND: There are about 7000 rare diseases worldwide, of which only 5% of the diseases can be treated with medicines, showing that it’s important to improve patient access to orphan drugs. Recently, China has actively worked to set up a national system for rare diseases to improve the diagnosis and treatment capabilities and ensure the accessibility of drugs. However, the benefits of the system have yet not to be measured. This study aimed to provide an overview of orphan drug access based on the Compendium of China’s First List of Rare Diseases and National Network to Collaborate on Diagnosis and Treatment of Rare Diseases, expecting to map a blueprint for orphan drug access in China. METHODS: Framework of China’s national system for rare diseases was summarized. We surveyed the availability and affordability of 79 approved orphan drugs based on the Compendium of China’s First List of Rare Diseases in 30 leading provincial institutions from 2017 to 2020. The availability was measured annually at 3 levels (market, hospital and drug), and affordability was reflected by comparing costs of daily defined dose with per capita income of urban and rural residents, with the National Basic Medical Insurance considered. RESULTS: The market availability of orphan drugs in China showed an upward trend. As of 2020, the median hospital-level availability was 41.1% (increased by 1.5 times), highly available drugs increased by 16.5%. There were 64/74 orphan drugs that were affordable to rural/urban residents with the National Basic Medical Insurance considered (an increase of 14.1%), and the urban–rural gap of affordability ratio was narrowed (down by 6.0%). Comprehensive analysis showed the proportions of drugs with better availability and affordability in urban and rural areas by 2020 were 39.4% and 32.3%, respectively, which had increased but were still at a low level. CONCLUSIONS: China’s national system for rare diseases has made great progress in orphan drug access, indicating that it’s been functioning under the joint reformation of medical treatment, medical insurance and medicines supply. The list of rare diseases will be updated and collaboration in networks will be enhanced to further improve the system. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13023-022-02507-2.