China Lex Pharma
Vol. 1, No. 18 - August 31, 2000
Lehman, Lee & Xu
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Beijing Plans Overhaul of Drug Distribution Network
The Pharmaceutical Department of the State Economic and Trade Commission (SETC) has announced plans to overhaul its drug distribution network in order to improve its efficiency. According to a "Memorandum on Issues relating to the Construction Plan of Pharmaceutical Distribution Network," the present system is wasteful and inefficient, being heavily reliant on numerous, small-scale distributors.
In anticipation of China's entry into the WTO, the SETC is asking provincial authorities to draw up plans to improve distribution in their districts and to report these plans back to the Pharmaceutical Department. In particular, the SETC is calling for greater investment in pharmaceutical retailing enterprises, support for efficient wholesalers and retailers, and respect for intellectual property rights. It is also calling for the construction of new pharmacies in rural areas, where the need is greatest.
(Source: Chinapharmanews)
Chinese Labor Minister Outlines Goals of Social Security Reform
China has set five goals for improving the fledging social security system in the near future, Minister of Labor and Social Security Zhang Zuoji announced last week.
He told an international forum sponsored by the Development Research Center of the State Council, the think tank of the central government, that the first task is to establish stable financing channels in the social security system.
Speaking at the China Development Forum on Social Security Reform, he said that the second task is to set up a nation-wide unemployment insurance scheme to secure the basic living of laid-off workers.
The third task is to further standardize the guarantee system of minimum living standards of urban citizens. He noted that China is now expanding the scope of these minimum living benefits to all low-income earners, the unemployed and retirees who are below the threshold of average household incomes.
According to Zhang, China will also accelerate medical insurance reform by putting 50 million people in 70 percent of localities in the country under the umbrella of the new medical insurance system this year.
The last task is to advance social security legislation. Zhang said that the country is accelerating the drafting of the Social Security Law and other relevant laws and regulations. He noted that China is trying to set up a framework of principal laws and regulations on social security in the next three years.
(Source: Xinhua News Agency)
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China to Strengthen Pharmaceutical Control
The Chinese legislature is revising the Pharmaceutical Administration Law to strictly control the country's drug market.
At the 17th meeting of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, a hearing was held for the report on the draft revision of the law delivered by Zheng Xiaoyu, director of the State Drug Administration. Since being implemented on July 1, 1995, the law has played a big role in curbing the making and sale of counterfeit and inferior drugs, Zheng said.
But the law is out of date and needs to be revised to keep up with the times, according to the official. In his report, Zheng explained the changes and amendments made in the draft, including the conditions for establishing pharmaceutical manufacturers, quality control over raw materials and products of traditional Chinese herbal drugs.
(Source: Xinhua News Agency)
Percentage of Overweight Chinese Rises Sharply
A recent survey suggests that the percentage of overweight Chinese has increased dramatically in recent years, following a trend seen in Western societies.
About 20 percent of Chinese adults are overweight, compared to 33 percent of their American counterparts. In urban areas, where living standards are higher and more income is available to spend on food, the fat count has been growing by a staggering 9 percent each year for a decade.
The problem is particularly serious amongst children of the nouveaux riches, whose parents treat them like "little emperors" and lavish them with food. An only child born under the one-child policy is also more likely to be overweight. In all, some 10 percent of city children are considered obese.
Although fat clinics and special diet programs have sprung up in the cities, the problem shows no sign of going away. Obesity in China, some have concluded, is "the dark side of Western affluence and overconsumption."
(Source: Los Angeles Times)
International Pharmaceutical Exhibition Slated for November in Beijing
China-Pharm 2000, the fifth international pharmaceutical exhibition and technology exchange fair, will be held in Beijing this November.
The joint sponsors of the event will be the China International Medical Exchange Center and the Beijing Branch of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, while its co-sponsors will be the China Pharmaceutical Industrial Corporation and the China Instruments and Meters Society.
The exhibition will feature technical seminars and displays of drugs and medical instruments. The expected participants include the 999 Pharmaceutical (Group) Company, the North China Pharmaceutical (Group) Company Ltd., Harbin Pharmaceutical Group, Northeast China Pharmaceutical General Plant, Novartis, Johnson, Eli Lilly Asia Inc., Roche and Squibb.
(Source: Asia Pulse)
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Xinhua's Weekly Review of Health News in China
China-made Anti-Aids Drug Experimented in Thailand
Clinical experiments in Thailand on 28 people with AIDS have proven that a Chinese-made compound pharmaceutical drug is effective in the treatment of AIDS.
The medicine Fufang SH was developed by a group of Chinese scientists headed by Luo Shide, a professor at the Kunming Botanical Research Institute under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The experiment was carried out on patients at Sapatong hospital of Ban Chiang Mai city in Thailand, according to an agreement signed between Thailand and the Kunming Botanical Research Institute in July 1999.
Cause of Congenital Heart Diseases Found
Sufferers of congenital heart diseases, who make up eight percent of the world's congenital heart disease population, are likely to be cured by repairing a gene called CX43.
"It is the abnormality of CX43 that directly leads to congenital heart diseases," said Huang Guoying, professor of the Medical School of Shanghai's Fudan University.
Huang's research indicates that the abnormality of CX43, an intercellular connective protein, prevents neural crest cells from developing into stromal cells in the heart of an embryo, thus hindering the growth of the efferent tract of the heart and resulting in congenital heart diseases like pulmonary stenosis.
Donations For Military Medical Information Network
China's military medical information network, now under construction, recently received RMB 50 million in donations from the Shanghai Municipal People's Government.
A city government department in charge of promoting friendly ties between servicemen and civilians donated 200 sets of satellite television equipment to the Health Department of the General Logistics Department of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA).
The PLA's medical information network is being built up by the PLA Remote Medical Research and Development Base and a local networking company in the city.
(Source: Xinhua News Agency)
Output and Sales of Pharmaceuticals in China Increase in First Half of 2000
Output and sales of pharmaceuticals for the first half of 2000 increased sharply over the same period in 1999, according to China's State Economic and Trade Commission. The gross output value was RMB 114 billion, an increase of 22 percent, and the added value was RMB 28 billion, an increase of almost 25 percent.
The sales volume of pharmaceutical goods on the Chinese market was RMB 73 billion during the first half of the year, up 14 percent year-on-year.
(Source: Asia Pulse)
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The China Lex Pharma Newsletter is intended to be used for news purposes only. It should not be taken as comprehensive legal advice, and Lehman, Lee & Xu will not be held responsible for any such reliance on its contents.
