On January 8, the Communiqué of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China was officially released. The document clearly pointed out that as the final year of the 14th Five-Year Plan, the tasks of discipline inspection and supervision in 2025 are particularly important, especially in the fields of medicine and medical insurance funds, where the governance of corruption is clearly listed as a priority. On January 10, Yang Shanhua, chief accountant of China National Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd., was investigated. On the same day, the Hainan Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision announced the news that three staff members of the pharmaceutical and health system were investigated. Among them, Xiao Meifang, director of the laboratory department of Hainan Provincial Women and Children's Medical Center, was suspected of serious violations of discipline and law. This is also the first director of the laboratory department of a tertiary hospital to be dismissed this year.

According to incomplete statistics from China News Service, at least 350 "key minorities" in the pharmaceutical and health system have been investigated in 2024, including academicians, department officials, secretaries and presidents of tertiary hospitals, and chairmen of pharmaceutical companies. Deng Yong, director of the Health and Health Law Research and Innovation Transformation Center of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, told China News Service that my country's anti-corruption in the pharmaceutical industry has made significant progress and is continuing to advance in depth, showing a high-pressure situation and comprehensive deployment, severe punishment of key minorities and positions, and focusing on key links.

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection issued a document:
In 2025, medicine is a key area for anti-corruption
"Anti-corruption in medicine" is still a keyword for the pharmaceutical industry in 2025.

Recently, the National Health Commission, the National Medical Insurance Administration, and the National Drug Administration have all announced this year's work priorities, and rectification of corruption and improvement of management levels have been mentioned many times.

On the evening of January 8, the website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission issued the "Communiqué of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China", summarizing the work of discipline inspection and supervision in 2024 and deploying tasks for 2025.
The document clearly pointed out that 2025 is the year of the conclusion of the "14th Five-Year Plan". We will continue to punish corruption, strictly investigate corruption cases that are intertwined with political and economic issues, and put medicine on par with major industries such as finance, state-owned enterprises, and energy. We will clearly require deepening the rectification of corruption in the pharmaceutical field, resolutely investigate and punish bribers who always drag cadres into the water and harm one party, and increase the intensity of cross-border corruption governance.

On January 10, after Chief Scientist Yang Xiaoming and Deputy General Manager Zhou Bin were investigated, Sinopharm Group Chief Accountant Yang Shanhua was investigated. It is worth mentioning that two days before this incident was released, Sinopharm Holdings issued an announcement: Due to work needs, on January 8, 2025, Mr. Wang Kan and Mr. Wang Peng submitted their resignations as non-executive directors to the board of directors, and the above resignations took effect immediately. China News Health noted that Wang Peng is the director of the company's finance department and Wang Kan is the director of the company's investment management department.

On the same day, the Hainan Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision reported that three medical and health system staff were investigated and punished, namely Xiao Meifang, director of the laboratory department of Hainan Women and Children's Medical Center, Wang Qing, member of the Party Committee and vice president of the People's Hospital of Qiongzhong Li and Miao Autonomous County, and Zhou Min, former director of Jiusuo Health Center of Ledong Li Autonomous County. Xiao Meifang is the first director of the laboratory department of a tertiary hospital to be dismissed this year.

From recent official disclosures, anti-corruption in grassroots hospitals and bidding for equipment and consumables have been highlighted. On January 2, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection issued the "Promoting the high-quality development of discipline inspection and supervision work in the new journey and resolutely rectifying unhealthy trends and corruption around the masses". The article pointed out that the discipline inspection and supervision organs should supervise closely and accurately, and seriously investigate and punish problems in key links such as equipment, drugs, consumables procurement and engineering construction in grassroots medical institutions. In the procurement of medical equipment, the "top leaders" of some grassroots medical institutions try to help specific people with connections to respond in advance and increase the chances of winning the bid. In the supply of medicines and consumables, some individuals use "unified prescriptions" to seek benefits for medical representatives, and a few "top leaders" of grassroots medical institutions use their official influence to control procurement and take the opportunity to accept bribes.

On January 7, CCTV broadcast the third episode of the TV special "Anti-Corruption for the People" "Unveiling the Invisible Cloak of Corruption", which disclosed the details of the corruption of Wang Maosheng, former Party Secretary and President of Gaozhou People's Hospital in Maoming City, Guangdong Province. According to reports, investigations have found that Wang Maosheng has used his power to help many suppliers in the procurement of medicines, consumables, medical equipment and engineering construction for many years, and received kickbacks of more than 200 million yuan.

The National Medical Insurance Administration is also continuing to increase the intensity of unannounced inspections. On January 11, the National Medical Insurance Administration issued a notice, deciding to carry out self-examination and self-correction work on the illegal and irregular use of medical insurance funds by designated medical institutions across the country in 2025. The subjects of self-examination and self-correction extend from designated medical institutions to designated medical institutions and designated retail pharmacies. The scope of self-examination and self-correction of designated medical institutions has been expanded from six fields, including cardiovascular internal medicine, orthopedics, hemodialysis, rehabilitation, medical imaging, and clinical testing, to three new fields, namely tumors, anesthesia, and critical care medicine, forming a list of problems for self-examination in nine fields.

2024 Medical Anti-Corruption "Report Card":
40,000 people were punished, and more than 350 "key few" in the medical and health system were investigated
In 2024, medical corruption and medical insurance fraud continued to be the focus of the country's severe crackdown, and the "corruption invisibility cloak" in the medical field is being unveiled.

On December 26, 2024, the website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission published an article entitled "Intensifying the Fight against Corruption and Clean Wind and Uprightness Around Us", which focused on strictly investigating corruption issues such as relying on doctors to make a living and embezzling medical insurance funds, and severely curbing the industry malpractices such as taking kickbacks and receiving red envelopes. A total of 52,000 cases were filed nationwide, 40,000 people were punished, and 2,634 people were transferred to the procuratorate. Among them, 675 cadres at or above the department level were detained.

The "fall" of many heavyweight officials and hospital cadres is the country's determination to fight medical corruption. According to incomplete statistics from China News Service, at least 350 "key few" in the medical and health system have been investigated in 2024. Judging from the units where the deans and secretaries involved have worked, the list involves not only large tertiary hospitals in first-tier cities, but also county-level hospitals in many hometowns. Among the investigated personnel, officials holding important positions in the local medical system account for more than 1/3, of which more than 30 are department-level cadres.

There are more than 180 hospital secretaries and deans on the list of those investigated, including 63 management of tertiary hospitals, including some academic leaders and experts. For example, Tian Wei, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and former dean of Beijing Jishuitan Hospital; Cheng Yingsheng, deputy secretary of the Party Committee and dean of Shanghai Tongji Hospital; Pang Guoming and Li Liqiang, "national famous Chinese medicine practitioners".

In terms of listed companies, executives of more than 30 companies have been detained, detained, filed or investigated. Among them, the actual controllers or former executives of 16 A-share listed companies, including Hisun Pharmaceutical, Hanyu Pharmaceutical, Weining Health, Sailun Bio, Wohua Pharmaceutical, Dasanlin, Huaxia Ophthalmology, Yangpu Medical, Ruiang Gene, and Laobaixing, were detained. Crimes such as embezzlement, bribery, and misappropriation of funds have become the "hardest hit areas" for executives' violations.

Under the high pressure of anti-corruption in the pharmaceutical industry, the sales expenses of listed pharmaceutical companies continue to attract the attention of regulators and investors. Data show that the sales expenses of Shanghai Pharmaceuticals, Baiyunshan, Dasanlin and other companies exceeded tens of billions of yuan in the first half of the year, and there is an overlap between companies with high sales expenses and companies with high violations of regulations and laws by senior executives.

Against the background of anti-corruption in the pharmaceutical industry, after the disclosure of the 2024 semi-annual report, the sales expenses of 471 A-share pharmaceutical concept companies showed a significant contraction, and the total sales expenses decreased by 5.84% year-on-year. Among them, the sales expenses of 39 companies totaled 47.18615 billion yuan, and the sales expense rate of 276 pharmaceutical companies pointed out a year-on-year decline in the financial report.

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