Cai Wenjun/Shanghai Daily news

The medical community should put together a list of effective medications that are in short supply because producers can't make enough profit from them, so that the government can take steps to encourage manufacturing of the drugs.

Many manufacturers have been forced to stop or pull back the production of drugs covered by a national price-control law because they can't make any profit on them, creating fears of shortages of needed medications.

Jiang Jian, vice president of Shuguang Hospital and a member of the local committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said in a proposal on Monday that the medical community can work out a list of cheap medicines demanded by patients after clinical research.

The Food and Drug Administration and the government can provide favorable measures like giving professional guidance to help producers control costs and allowing the retail price of the drugs to rise within a reasonable level.

In November, doctors at Shanghai Children's Medical Center complained about a lack of cyclophosphamide injection, a common therapy for treating leukemia. Each injection costs only 4 yuan (49 US cents).

The shortage was caused when two manufacturers stopped production due to financial pressures. The only company making the drug was focusing on a more expensive product.

The shortage was solved after a manufacturer in Jiangsu Province promised to provide a larger supply to local hospitals.

Liu Luyuan of Shanghai Hualian Pharmaceutical Co, which stopped producing cyclophosphamide last year, said the company made a loss of 7 to 10 percent on the production of the medication.

"We can't afford the loss. This injection is only popular among cancer patients, and we only produce 300,000 to 400,000 units a year. But we must have one entire product line to manufacture it due to its production requirements," she said.