Objective  The aim of this study is to investigate the clinical use of 17 antineoplastic drugs passing national medical insurance negotiation in Peking Union Medical College Hospital before and after the implementation of national policies about promoting the inclusion of antineoplastic drugs in health insurance, and to provide reference for the optimization and adjustment of hospital formulary.

  Methods  The prescription data of 17 antineoplastic drugs of outpatients and inpatients in our hospital from December 1, 2017 to November 30, 2019(December 1, 2017 to November 30, 2018 for the year 2018, December 1, 2018 to November 30, 2019 for the year 2019) were collected. The basic information of patients, the usage amount and cost, defined daily doses (DDDs), and defined daily cost (DDC) were analyzed.

  Results  A total of 6881 patients used the 17 antineoplastic drugs in 2019. Among them, there were 4713(68.5%) outpatients and 2168(31.5%) inpatients. The proportions of the cost of 17 antineoplastic drugs to that of all antineoplastic drugs and all formulary drugs in our hospital were 16.3% and 3.8%, respectively. The 17 antineoplastic drugs were mainly used for thorax, hematologic, and urologic malignancies. The top three antineoplastic drugs in terms of cost were osimertinib, octreotide acetate microspheres and crizotinib, with good synchronization between drug cost and DDDs. The top three drugs in terms of DDC were vemurafenib, cetuximab and ibrutinib. The total cost and prescription of the six drugs that had already been included in the formulary of our hospital before the implementation of the policy increased by 78.2% and 89.8%, respectively in 2019 compared with those in 2018, and the proportions of the cost of six antineoplastic drugs to that of all antineoplastic drugs and all formulary drugs in the hospital increased by 54.4% and 78.6%, respectively. After the implementation of national policies, the quantity and cost of osimertinib increased significantly, and the drugs increased in quantity but decreased in cost were cetuximab, axitinib, and sunitinib in sequence. Both the quantity and the cost of pegaspargase decreased significantly.

  Conclusions  The national health insurance negotiation policy promoted the use of 17 antineoplastic drugs in the hospital and improved the accessibility of these drugs to patients significantly. At the same time, the total cost of the involved drugs had a sharp rise. It is necessary to strengthen the monitoring and dynamic evaluation of the clinical application of related drugs, so as to promote rational drug use while meeting patients' needs.