As the crackdown on "kickback-driven sales" in the pharmaceutical procurement and sales sector deepens, the 2026 campaign against corruption and malpractice in healthcare has identified new priorities.

Pharmaceutical and medical device companies using third parties under the guise of research or donations to covertly provide improper benefits will face intensified regulatory scrutiny.

Concurrently, a specialized campaign targeting tax-related violations within the pharmaceutical industry will be progressively rolled out.

On June 8th, 14 departments including the National Health Commission jointly issued a notice outlining the key tasks for correcting malpractice in pharmaceutical procurement and medical services for 2026.

The notice emphasizes the continued and intensified centralized rectification of corruption and malpractice in the healthcare sector, integrating efforts to tackle issues of misconduct and corruption that directly affect the public.

Focusing on critical areas and key links, the notice outlines 11 key tasks, with several specific regulatory actions aimed at newly emerging "gray area expenses" in pharmaceutical sales.

For instance, regarding medical data governance, the notice calls for strengthening whole-process oversight of medical data, improving data usage review and traceability mechanisms, standardizing industry data security management, strictly prohibiting leaks, reselling, and unauthorized use, and resolutely curbing profiteering from data to effectively protect patient privacy and personal information security.

A key focus is cracking down on the use of third parties under the pretext of research to disguise illegal kickback-driven sales practices.

Industry compliance experts have noted that traditional "kickback-driven sales" methods are now under thorough, penetrating regulatory oversight.

This has led to the emergence of new forms of "white gloves," including some medical technology service companies.

With the surge in new drug clinical trials, these third parties may exploit Investigator-Initiated Trials (IIT) or Real-World Evidence (RWE) studies, using names like "observation fees" or "research funding" to carry out commercial bribery, helping pharmaceutical companies bypass hospital drug committee approvals and turning "research" into an illicit tool for promoting drug sales.

Furthermore, routine cooperation between hospitals and companies on clinical research often falls outside the regular scope of surprise inspections by medical insurance authorities, fostering a sense of complacency among some doctors and pharmaceutical firms.

However, these new types of illegal activities, which could lead to the misuse of medical insurance funds, have drawn regulatory attention.

In late March, the National Healthcare Security Administration disclosed an inspector's field notes from a surprise audit.

The notes revealed that since 2023, a particular hospital's procurement and use of a certain granule product surged dramatically, with annual sales jumping from under 2 million yuan to over 8 million yuan, largely paid for by medical insurance funds.

Inspectors noted that starting that year, various departments in the hospital undertook a total of 7 IIT studies commissioned by the company, with studies on this specific granule accounting for a quarter of all post-market drug IIT projects at the hospital during that period.

The research content either treated the granule as a cure-all, observing its effects combined with a first-line targeted therapy, or as a last resort, observing its "efficacy" in cancers with no remaining treatment options.

The inspection notes stated that medical insurance authorities are actively exploring effective methods to use real-world evidence studies to determine the value benchmark for drugs and consumables within the insurance system.

However, the investment and returns from R&D and innovation ultimately factor into the price of drugs and consumables, paid for by patients, urging medical institutions and companies to use limited resources wisely, engage in clean cooperation, and conduct solid research.

The issues uncovered in this inspection have garnered attention from relevant authorities.

Beyond "fake research," "fake academic conferences" and "fake donations" have also been significant venues for frequent commercial bribery in pharmaceutical sales in recent years.

Consequently, multiple departments will implement stricter oversight this year, targeting both doctors and industry associations.

On the doctor side, to correct unethical and non-compliant behavior, the notice specifies a focus on rectifying issues such as violating professional ethics and codes of conduct in practice, neglecting medical quality and safety, engaging in unauthorized multiple practice locations or external consultations, and accepting illegal benefits under the guise of participating in academic activities.

Regarding industry associations, to address unlawful practices, the notice further mentions governing problems where business-supervised social organizations seek improper benefits through means like lending qualifications, organizing publications and conferences, outsourcing business, or donation partnerships.

The persistence of "kickback-driven sales" is closely linked to practices like issuing false invoices by pharmaceutical and device companies.

Therefore, this year's anti-corruption efforts also propose a specialized campaign against tax-related violations.

According to the notice, joint investigations and specialized campaigns will be launched to severely crack down on tax-related crimes in the medical device field, such as "altering and reprinting," issuing false VAT invoices, and concealing income to evade taxes, while tracking institutions that accept falsely issued invoices and strictly handling illegal activities.

Efforts will also strengthen whole-chain risk prevention and control for invoices and enhance credit evaluation in the medical device procurement and sales sector.

"Equipment bidding" is another high-risk area for违规 and corruption in pharmaceutical procurement.

In recent years, as industry competition has intensified, the phenomenon of malicious low-price bidding has gradually surfaced.

Against this backdrop, this year's governance efforts will focus on the issue of "abnormally low prices" in government procurement.

Since February 1st, the Ministry of Finance has implemented a notice aimed at addressing abnormally low prices in government procurement, clarifying circumstances that require initiating a review of such bids.

This latest notice further specifies strict adherence to relevant legal systems like the Government Procurement Law, with intensified supervision focused on high-value medical consumables and medical equipment.

It targets rectifying违规 issues such as key personnel among采购人 improperly intervening, splitting projects to avoid open bidding, tailoring bids, and "open bidding with暗定 outcomes," while legally打击 bidders who租借 licenses, engage in虚假 transactions or commercial bribery, to address the problem of abnormally low prices in government procurement of medical equipment.

To advance the常态化治理 of drug prices and规范 industry购销秩序, the notice also proposes promoting the institutionalized, normalized implementation of centralized volume-based procurement for drugs and consumables, expanding品种 coverage, researching推进 direct settlement between medical insurance and pharmaceutical companies, simultaneously加强 price governance for drugs and consumables to挤出虚高价格水分.

It calls for investigating and punishing price violations in the pharmaceutical distribution field, such as failing to clearly mark prices, price fraud, and colluding to manipulate drug prices.

Efforts will also be accelerated to resolve the issue of medical institutions拖欠 payments to drug distribution enterprises.