Drugs green light for HK residents in mainland

Hongkongers in four Guangdong cities, including Shenzhen and Guangzhou, will be allowed to get their hands on drugs and medical devices approved for use in Hong Kong public hospitals, mainland authorities have announced.

The measure has passed a trial implementation at the University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen hospital and will soon be extended to four more hospitals in Guangzhou, Zhuhai and Zhongshan, with a target to eventually cover all nine Guangdong cities in the Greater Bay Area.

Health official Zhou Zixiao said the trial went through a comprehensive selection process and was approved to extend the urgent clinical use of drugs and medical devices used in SAR hospitals to four other mainland hospitals.

They are Modern Hospital and United Family Hospital in Guangzhou, Chenxinghai Hospital in Zhongshan and C-MER Dennis Lam Eye Hospital in Zhuhai - the latter of which is the only Hong Kong-founded eye specialist hospital on the list.

The eye hospital has applied to introduce drugs and medical devices commonly used in Hong Kong and Macau, including atropine eye drops. Atropine is an internationally approved drug that slows down the exacerbation of short-sightedness, but has not been approved by mainland health authorities, making it impossible to purchase in the Chinese private market.

Many mainland parents have had to travel to Hong Kong and Macau to get the eye drops for their children.

The implementation of the scheme in the eye hospital is expected to bring convenience to these parents, who cannot visit the two SARs easily amid the pandemic. It will also benefit authorities' campaign to control short-sightedness in teens.

Another health official, Su Shengfeng, said since the launch of the trial scheme in April, nine imported drugs and two medical devices have been approved for use on 150 patients.

Among them were some of the latest cancer drugs - Entrectinib and Lorlatinib - as an alternative treatment for patients with rare cancers.

It is understood that medication approved for use in the mainland under the program could be more expensive in Guangdong, but elderly Hongkongers consulting the HKU-Shenzhen Hospital can use their health-care vouchers.

Sources said the four newly added hospitals are considering accepting health-care vouchers, while pharmaceutical firms may also lower prices in future, considering market needs.