Interpretation of the changes in 2018 National Essential Medicine List (NEML) from the specialists

On 25 October 2018, National Essential Medicine List (NEML) of China was formally published by National Health Commission and it has been executed since 1 November. The new NEML, which includes 685 drugs with more than 1110 kinds of dosage forms and more than 1810 kinds of specifications, further standardizes dosage forms and specifications of drugs. The new catalog not only increases the number of categories, but also optimizes the structure of the drug list. It highlights the need for basic drugs in aspects of common diseases, chronic diseases, serious diseases and public health. Besides, the normalization of dosage forms and specifications, and the persistence of emphasizing the combination of Western and Chinese medicine are both the characteristics of it. This news report is composed of several parts including brief introduction of NEML, the difference between NEML and National Directory of Health Insurance (NDHI) which is likely to be confused with NEML, the dissection of the change of medicine varieties, relevant policies and potential issues of NEML. We intend to give a comprehensive interpretation of NEML from different perspectives.