China improves diagnosis, treatment of rare diseases

Medical workers encourage a 4-year-old child diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) after the injection of Spinraza at a hospital in Zaozhuang, east China's Shandong Province, Jan. 1, 2022. China is striving to improve the diagnosis and treatment of rare diseases.

Recently, a tear-jerking video showing how a national health insurance negotiator helped cut down the bidding price of Spinraza from over 53,680 yuan (8,422 U.S. dollars) per dose to 33,000 yuan went viral online and was lauded by netizens. Spinraza, a medicine for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), was once priced at a whopping 700,000 yuan.

Seven rare-disease medicines were included in the country's medicare reimbursement list in 2021, with an average price reduction of 65 percent. (Xinhua/Guo Xulei)