CHINA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Min Zhu, Ya-ling Gon, Yang Gu, Chai Lu, Ying Li and Shiye Yuan, Han Kun Law Offices
Strengthened regulation of medical insurance fund usage On 28 February 2024, the Supreme People’s Court, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate and the Ministry of Public Security jointly issued the Guidance on Several Issues Concerning the Handling of Criminal Cases Involving Medi- cal Insurance Fraud. Effective from the date of issuance, this document aims to legally punish medical insurance fraud crimes, safeguard the security of medical insurance funds and protect the legitimate rights and interests of the public with respect to medical insurance. On 2 April 2024, the National Healthcare Security Administration (the “NHSA” ), together with mul- tiple national departments, issued the Notice on Conducting Special Rectification Work on Illegal and Non-Compliant Issues of Medical Insurance Funds, initiating a nationwide special rectifica- tion campaign targeting illegal and non-compli- ant issues in medical insurance funds. In April 2024, the NHSA, along with four other national agencies, issued the Notice on Con- ducting Unannounced Inspections of the Medi- cal Insurance Fund in 2024, officially launch- ing unannounced inspections of the use of the National Medical Insurance Fund for 2024. Intellectual Property Continued growth in patent applications related to life sciences and healthcare The number of invention patent applications in China continued to grow. According to national statistical reporting, by the end of 2024, the total number of patents granted in 2024 reached 1.045 million, representing a year-on-year increase of 13.5%. In 2024 a total of 67,000 patent re-exam- ination and invalidation cases were concluded, and the number of high-value invention patents per 10,000 people in China reached 14.
Consistent with this trend, patent applications related to life sciences and healthcare in Chi- na also continued to increase. In 2024 alone, the number of published patent applications related to life sciences and healthcare (includ- ing chemical drugs, biopharmaceuticals, tradi- tional Chinese medicines and medical devices) exceeded 252,000, including 176,000 medical device-related patent applications and 76,000 drug-related patent applications. This represents a year-on-year increase of more than 30% com- pared to the 58,000 drug-related patent applica- tions in 2023. Changes in patent examination and patent industrialisation Guided by the principle of “quality over quan- tity” , the government strengthened control over patent examination and prosecution procedures in 2024. For example, when examining health- care-related patent applications, the number of citations of integrity clauses and notices identify- ing abnormal application behaviour significantly increased compared to previous years. This has had a significant impact on improving patent quality. According to data disclosed by the China Nation- al Intellectual Property Administration, the patent industrialisation rate of valid invention patents held by Chinese enterprises reached 53.3%. The number of recorded patent transfer and licens- ing transactions throughout the year exceeded 613,000, representing a year-on-year increase of 29.9%. Among these, the number of recorded transfer and licensing transactions by universi- ties and research institutions reached 76,000, representing a year-on-year increase of 39.1%. From January to November 2024, the total import and export value of intellectual property royalties nationwide reached RMB356.41 billion, representing a year-on-year increase of 6.6%.
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