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Norman Ng: How Should Hong Kong Respond to the Challenge of Innovative Drug Pricing?

Norman Ng/LinkedIn

Aug 19, 2025, 17:29

Norman Ng: How Should Hong Kong Respond to the Challenge of Innovative Drug Pricing?

Norman Ng, Director, Patient Advocacy and Public Affairs at Healthcare Thinkers, shared on LinkedIn:

“How Should Hong Kong Respond to the Challenge of Innovative Drug Pricing?

A recent report from The Observer highlights growing tensions between major pharmaceutical companies and the UK government over drug pricing. This raises an important question: as an international medical hub, how should Hong Kong balance the accessibility and sustainability of innovative medicines?

Lessons from the UK Experience

The challenges currently faced by the UK offer valuable insights for Hong Kong. On one hand, the National Health Service (NHS) aims to lower drug prices to control healthcare spending. On the other hand, pharmaceutical companies require reasonable returns to continue developing new treatments. This tension exists in Hong Kong as well, though it manifests differently.

Hong Kong must find a middle ground: ensuring patients have timely access to cutting-edge therapies, maintaining the pharmaceutical industry’s incentive to innovate, and safeguarding public finances from excessive strain. Achieving this balance requires collaboration among the government, industry, healthcare professionals, and patient advocacy groups.

Drug pricing is not merely an economic issue—it is a social matter that affects public health. Hong Kong should learn from international experiences and develop sustainable solutions tailored to its own context, enabling more patients to benefit from medical advances while preserving the long-term stability of the healthcare system.

Innovative medicines are not just commodities—they are hopes for life.

Hong Kong doesn’t need to be the market with the lowest drug prices globally, but it should strive to be the most valuable and innovation-driven. We need a pharmaceutical policy that balances patient welfare, industry momentum, and public finance. This is not just an economic concern—it’s a matter of public health and social equity.

Feel free to share your thoughts on drug pricing in Hong Kong.

Let’s work together to shape a more forward-looking healthcare policy!”

Read further.

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