China bets on Hong Kong’s CMPR to be the next FDA

By Wang Fangqing

Hong Kong is building its own drug regulatory agency - The Hong Kong Center for Medical Products Regulation (CMPR) - under the city’s Department of Health (DoH). China is hoping this agency will be internationally recognized to give China a critical voice in the global pharmaceutical approval sector, said speakers at last week’s ChinaTrials in Shanghai.

“People asked why Hong Kong must have an independent agency, and my answer is its establishment has multi-layered significance,” said Li Zili, DoH special advisor and a former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reviewer who spent decades in multinational corporations (MNCs) before retirement.