[To improve the accessibility of hepatitis B treatment].

The burden of chronic hepatitis B is substantial in China. An estimated 90 million people are living with chronic hepatitis B. About 7.4 million people are at high risk of advance stage liver disease and cancer due to chronic hepatitis B and who urgently require treatment. However, only 12.5% of chronic hepatitis B patients are receiving antiviral treatment at present. In order to improve the accessibility of antiviral treatment for chronic hepatitis B we should decrease the price of antiviral drugs; to bring antiviral drugs into the national essential drugs list; to include antiviral drugs in both inpatient and outpatient reimbursement category; to apply the mechanisms for drug price reduction such as rejecting the patent registration for drugs with public health risk and harm to welfare policy; initiating government unified price negotiations with drug companies.