BEIJING — China is expected to release a renewed catalog of drugs covered by its national medical insurance system in late November, the National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA) said on Nov 12.

According to the NHSA, 93 percent of the 271 drugs that passed the preliminary review process for this year's update are drugs approved for clinical use since 2016.

The national reimbursement drug list has been updated six times since 2000, currently standing at 2,800 inclusions, compared to 1,535 in 2000.

Stressing China's medical insurance system mainly targets the people's basic needs, the NHSA encourages supplemental and commercial insurance of various kinds to play a bigger part in increasing the accessibility of new drugs.