CHINA LEX PHARMA NEWSLETTER
Vol. 1, No. 19 - September 6, 2000
Lehman, Lee & Xu
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China's Drug Management Law to be Revised
The Chinese government has vowed to crack down on fake and inferior pharmaceutical products to protect the integrity of the drug market. The Drug Management Law will be amended by the China's National People's Congress to give enforcement authorities more options in the fight.
Mr. Zheng Xiaoyu, head of the State Drug Administration, recently indicated that the major changes to the existing law will include the following: (i) the right of local officials to inspect pharmaceutical products that have already met national standards will be eliminated, and all local inspection standards will be discontinued; (ii) companies and individuals that manufacture or sell fake medicine may be prosecuted criminally, in addition to civil fines; and (iii) companies that produce fake medicines may have their business licenses revoked.
In general, stiffer punishments will be imposed on companies that violate the Drug Management Law, although it is not yet known when the new law will be passed by the National People's Congress.
(Source: China Economic Times)
Beijing Hosts Ninth International Public Health Congress
The Ninth International Public Health Congress of the World Federation of Public Health Associations was held on September 2-6 in Beijing.
"The Great Wall represents challenges and barriers. By climbing up the wall, we hope to find a way to remove the barriers of public health and to meet the challenge of the new millennium," said Allen Jones, executive secretary of the World Federation of Public Health Associations.
Wang Ke'an, Director of the Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine, called on his foreign colleagues to take advantage of the conference as an opportunity to work for the health of the people across the world.
According to Dr. Mohammad Akhter, Executive Director of the American Public Health Association, the biggest challenge for public health experts in the new millennium is how to protect those vulnerable to diseases, such as smokers.
More than 1,000 public health experts from 40 countries were expected to attend the five-day congress and discuss issues including the impact of the global economy and environmental changes on public health, the control over the tobacco industry, HIV and AIDS, oral and mental health, and the development of public health undertakings in China.
The meeting was sponsored the China Preventive Medicine Association and the Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine, with assistance from the World Health Organization, the United Nations' International Children's Education Fund, Population Fund and Food and Agriculture Organization, the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank and the Colgate-Palmolive Company.
(Source: Xinhua News Agency)
Nationwide Lottery Launched to Raise Funds for the Elderly
From September 1, 2000, any Chinese individual who purchases a RMB 2 (US $0.24) ticket will have a chance to hit the jackpot.
The newest nationwide lottery was launched to fund public health services for the elderly. It is hoped that US $60 million to US $120 million worth of tickets will be sold during the four-month trial period ending December 31, 2000. The lottery is one of a host of new initiatives to complement government efforts to improve the living standards of senior citizens in China. As the State-owned enterprises find themselves unable to reimburse the medical bills of retirees, the elderly are being squeezed financially. A controversial social security tax currently being drafted may also provide some long-term answers.
(Source: www.chinaonline.com)
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Health Care for Elderly Stressed
China's Ministry of Health recently vowed to strengthen overall health care of its elderly. According to Yin Dakui, Vice Minister of Health, China will continue to establish a nationwide health care system for the aged and solve the hospitalization problem, as well as deepen reform of the State's health system.
He stressed that the community health system should be further developed. Meanwhile, hospitals should expand medical services, such as opening clinics or wards particularly for the elderly and providing convenient health care for them.
Yin said that a grass-roots health network for the aged in rural areas should be further developed as quickly as possible.
According to a survey conducted in 1998, incidence of chronic diseases in aged people is 3.2 times higher than the average rate, among which tumors, diabetes, cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases and mental illness are most common.
Up till now, the population of people over 60 in China has reached 126 million.
(Source: Xinhua News Agency)
China to Build Genetic Chip Plant
China is building its largest genetic chip manufacturing plant in Guangdong Province. Shanghai BioWindow Gene Development Company Limited and Zhaoqing Star Lake Biotech Company Limited have announced they are to establish the new company with a total investment of RMB 250 million (30 million US dollars), in Zhaoqing in south China's Guangdong Province.
The Shanghai BioWindow Gene Development Company, a Fudan University-based company, agreed to invest its technology in the new company while its partner, Zhaoqing Star Lake Biotech, will provide the financial backing.
"For the moment, BioWindow's products and technology are mainly used in clinical diagnosis," said Qing Yilong, General Manager of Shanghai-based United Gene-Tech (Group) Company Limited, the parent group of BioWindow.
Their products include genetic chips that are used for diagnosing prenatal hereditary diseases and liver cancer. Without the help of genetic chips, researchers used to be restricted to analyzing one gene relating to one disease, at a time.
By using the chip, they can inspect thousands of genes at one time and analyze any number of diseases.
(Source: China Daily)
China Cracks Down on Fake, Substandard Medical Instruments
China has launched a nationwide campaign against reusing, manufacturing and marketing of fake and substandard disposable medical instruments.
According to authorities, law-enforcement and medical administrative departments in Dongyang City in east China's Zhejiang Province seized and destroyed about 10 tons of disposable syringes on July 15.
At least 13 people involved in the case have been arrested by the local public security department. Police in Zhenhai City of the province also arrested three suspected of engaging in such illegal activities and seized 180,000 fake medical instruments.
In Wujin, a city in neighboring Jiangsu Province, 4.95 million substandard disposable syringes and accessories have been confiscated.
At a news briefing on these cases, an official from the State Drug Administration (SDA) said the re-use of disposal medical instruments is prohibited in China to prevent cross-infection.
The administration will join hands with other government departments to take further action in cracking down on the making and marketing of poor-quality medical instruments, the official said.
(Source: Xinhua News Agency)
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China Keeps Close Eye on Trans-Genetic Research
China has strengthened management on trans-genetic studies and experiments in a move to carry out an international agreement on biosafety the country signed in August.
China signed the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, part of the Convention on Biological Diversity, at the headquarters of the United Nations in New York on August 8 this year.
The protocol is aimed to ensuring "an adequate level of protection in the areas of the safe transfer, handling and use of living modified organisms (LMOs) resulting from modern biotechnology that may have adverse effects on the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity," while taking into account risks to human health, and specifically focusing on transboundary movements.
In the past dozen years, biological technology has been developing rapidly in China. Some 22 kinds of trans-genetic crops and trees have been used for field experiments.
According to statistics, China ranks fourth in trans-genetic crop experimentation and production in the world. China also imports LMOs, such as trans-genetic soybeans, and has established joint ventures with some foreign enterprises engaged in biological research and development.
However, the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) said that effective measures must be taken to strengthen inspection and management of LMO research and production to guard against possible adverse effects on biological diversity, ecology and human health in China.
The SEPA has issued the Framework of China State Biosafety with the help of the departments of science and technology, agriculture, forestry, education, and medicine inspection and will continue to build a national system for the inspection and technological support of biosafety in accordance with the framework.
(Source: Xinhua News Agency)
China Continues to Build Health Insurance System
A medical insurance system will be established in cities by the end of the year, indicated Minister of Labor and Social Security Zhang Zuoji at a recent social welfare seminar.
By the end of June of this year, about 146 Chinese cities had set up new medical insurance systems, covering a total of 14 million urban residents.
Nearly one-third of China's cities have yet to implement or even work out the details of their medical insurance systems. Zhang admitted that the task facing his ministry is a tough one.
Zhang said that all cities, even those that have yet to carry out administrative reforms in line with the central and provincial governments, should establish similar medical insurance systems. He emphasized that local governments must make sure that the majority of urban residents are included in the new insurance system.
China began reforming its old welfare-orientated medical insurance system for urban residents in 1998. Though some cities have lagged behind, much progress has been made over the past two years, Zhang said.
According to the trial of the medical insurance system in Bejing, employees pay less than 5 per cent of their salaries and their employers add the same amount to help cover medical expenses.
Employers and the government are also to establish another insurance account to cover those workers whose medical expenses go above a certain amount.
When medical fees surpass this set amount, patients could get 70 to 100 per cent of their expenses reimbursed from this second insurance account, depending on their length of service, their contribution to their company and the seriousness of their case. Patients will still need to pay the medical fees that such subsidies do not cover.
Additionally, starting from the third quarter of this year, the surplus of hospitals' drug income and expenditure should be submitted and deposited in the social security fund account. Upon review, reasonable part(s) of the surplus will be returned to the hospitals.
It has been reported that the separate accounting systems for drug and hospital income and expenditure will definitely change the dilemma where most of the Chinese hospitals maintain their operations by relying on income from drug sales. Accordingly, the medical expenses of patients will be lowered.
(Source: Shanghai Popular Health News, Xinhua News Agency)
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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.
