China To Reform Drug Industry

China is to take steps to improve the use of foreign investment in thepharmaceutical industry and help make China a leading Asian drug producer by 2010, says Zheng Xiaoyu, director of the State Drug Administration.

Drug projects in China will be monitored more closely to avoid duplication, and drugmakers and retailers are required to improve their after-sales services and response to consumer complaints.

Mr Zheng said that China has developed better techniques and facilities for producing medical ingredients than for making finished drugs, and that only 10% of Chinese drugmakers currently meet international Good Manufacturing Practice standards. China registered over 5,600 drug plants in 1995, compared with 800 in 1980. Over 90% are small enterprises, making low-level products which are already in good supply and which cannot compete with foreign products.