(Yicai Global) Feb. 12 -- China will offer preferential value-added tax policies for drugs that treat rare diseases, a State Council executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang decided yesterday.

From March 1, VAT for the first batch of 21 medicines for rare diseases and four crude drugs -- natural medicinal herbal and animal preparations -- will be levied at 3 percent, above all for anticancer pharmaceuticals. The current rate is 16 percent.

Experts will gather to select new remedies from overseas to meet the nation's urgent clinical needs, while import policies will be retooled to introduce these treatments into China faster, per a statement released after the meeting.

The session also determined the country will redouble its efforts to ensure earlier cancer diagnosis and treatment and shorten the registration and approval period for new medications to treat it, as well as cutting their prices.

Editor: Ben Armour