Hong Kong hospitals can save at least HK$24 million a year with new drug vetting system

Hong Kong’s streamlined drug approval system could help public hospitals save up to HK$24 million (US$3.1 million) a year by approving just one drug, health authorities have estimated, while offering pharmaceutical firms one-on-one consultations to speed up the process.

The Department of Health said on Monday that extra information sessions on the “1+” drug approval system – including briefing seminars that will start next week and workshops beginning in June – would seek to raise the efficiency of the approvals process.

Starting in September, one-on-one consultations would also be arranged for pharmaceutical firms that hoped to seek preliminary review and advice under the simplified drug approval system.

“In the past, drugs were expensive as there was no competition … But with the 1+ system, drugs from the mainland and overseas could be registered in Hong Kong more quickly,” the Hospital Authority’s chief pharmacist William Chui Chun-ming said.

“There is competition … which could lower the drug prices,” he added.

So far 11 drugs, mostly targeting cancer and rare diseases, have been approved for registration in Hong Kong under the 1+ system, first launched in November 2023.