ZHAO Fei, ZHAO Zi-nan, JIN Peng-fei, LI Ke-xin, XUE Wei, QI Wen-yuan, WANG Juan, XU Xiao-yu, LIU Xiao-hui, YANG Lei, CONG Duan-duan, ZHANG Ya-tong, HU Xin
Objective To study the update of 2021 edition of World Health Organization Model List of Essential Medicines (hereinafter referred to as "Model List") published by World Health Organization on September 30, 2021, to provide reference for the selection of essential medicines in China. Methods We compared the 2021 edition of the Model List with the 2019 edition of the Model List, and analyzed the characteristics of the deleted and newly added drugs. Results The 2021 edition of the Model List had a total of 479 medicines, with 4 deletions and 24 new medicines compared to 459 in the 2019 edition. The 2021 edition of the Model List added a new major category of dental preparations, and incorporated more anti-infective and anti-tumor drugs. Drugs for precision therapy, fixed-dose combinations, more inhalation drugs and long-acting insulin analogues were included. Conclusion The inclusion of "new drugs" has been the trend of updating the Model List, and the new version of the Model List suggested that precision therapy drugs, combination therapy drugs and long-acting course drugs are one of the key directions for future drug development.