CHINA LEX PHARMA LAW NEWSLETTER
Vol. 2 , No.14- June 07, 2001
TOPICS THIS ISSUE:
- Beijing to be Home to "Biotech" Valley
- Pharmacists Urged to Step it up in Preparation for Upcoming Laws
- China Health Care Reform Encountering Problems
- Singapore May Ease Ban on TCM If Standards Are Met
- New Laws Govern the Standards of Imported Medical Equipment
- China Tobacco Sellers Must Post Age-requirement Sign
Beijing to be Home to "Biotech" Valley
According to the Beijing Economic Technological Development Zone Administrative Committee, a special region within the Development Zone is being formed specifically for the research and production of Biotechnology.
Currently, there exist 60 Pharmaceutical and Biotech enterprises within the Zone that deal in anything from medical equipment to medicine to biotechnology products.
While total investment for these firms is currently at US$410 million, Beijing is hoping to increase this amount as its base expands to include even more firms over the next several years.
(Source: ChinaOnline)
Pharmacists Urged to Step it up in Preparation for Upcoming Laws
The Deputy Director of the State Drug Administration has urged pharmacists to play a more active role in fighting the presence of fake and inferior medicines in the market and provide appropriate medical advice to patients.
The director's words were part of a campaign to kick off "Pharmacists Week". Started in 1998, the week aims to enhance social responsibility and professional skill among China's pharmacists through lectures, seminars and activities dealing with the distribution of medicine.
This year's theme is: "The Law on Pharmaceutical Administration, Caring about People's Health."
Drug providers and pharmacists are being urged to acquaint themselves with the revised Law on Pharmaceutical Administration and take an active part in the nationwide effort to educate the public about drugs and medicines.
Additions to the law, originally written in 1985, will take effect on December 1 of this year.
The revised law emphasizes strengthening pharmaceutical quality control and safeguarding people's legal rights when it comes to health care and medication.
The latest statistics from the SDA indicate that 5.4 percent of the 102,000 batches of drugs inspected last year failed to meet quality standards, a drop of 1.6 percentage points compared with the previous year.
Of all antibiotics tested, 3.4 percent failed to meet SDA requirements.
Chinese herbal medicines were the biggest losers, with 20.2 percent falling short of standards.
(Source: Xinhua)
China Medical Reform Encountering Problems
When the State Council introduced its guidelines for establishing a basic medical insurance system for urban employees in 1998, people who enjoyed public funded medical care panicked into buying medicine and rushing to hospitals for check-ups and medical operations, in Beijing, Kunming, Changchun and other cities preparing to initiate the medical reform.
By the end of last year, more than 284 cities had already implemented the new medical insurance program, covering 43 million people. Right now, 80% of all Chinese cities have implemented the new policy.
With the new scheme unfolding across the country and relevant reports filling the media, people are gradually starting to understand the new medical care package and come to terms with it; however, the system is still plagued with problems.
Due to the ever-increasing proportion of retirees, insurance funds are under great financial pressure. Many enterprises are failing to pay their share of the account.
Moreover, the most needy people, the poor and the unemployed, are denied insurance benefits.
Joint ventures and foreign-funded companies are not allowed to participate in the new program, as the huge payrolls given to their employees are thought to be adequate enough to compensate for medical bills. As a result, it is difficult to increase coverage, and it will be difficult to keep funds balanced in the near future.
Reforms in the healthcare system and in the medicine production and distribution network trail far behind the medical insurance system. The price of medicines still fluctuates greatly in many areas and results in lofty costs for customers.
If the working poor and unemployed continue to be left out of the medical insurance umbrella and the policy officials continue to ignore payment based on the living standards in different regions, public confidence in the system will continue to flounder.
(Source: Xinhua)
Singapore May Ease Ban on TCM If Standards Are Met
Even though Singapore is considered a Chinese city-state, and an estimated half of the population believes in Traditional Chinese Medicine, laws restrict the importation of TCM products from the mainland. This might change.
A senior Parliamentary secretary claims that two factors must be met in order for Singapore to consider a change in its policy. The first is that the PRC dispensers of the TCM products must meet stricter standards and, secondly, the products must be proven to be effective against ailments.
An estimated 12% of Singaporeans who frequent doctors use solely TCM practitioners. The belief is that they are milder and less intrusive than Western medicine.
Singapore officials also noted that the current consideration by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on the criteria it might use for regulating botanical products, including the bulk of TCM herbs, is of special interest.
If the FDA were to raise the legal status of TCM products from food supplements to drugs, then this would force the industry to implement stricter standards and would lead to more research and development.
(Source: Deutsche Presse-Agentur)
New Laws Govern the Standards of Imported Medical Equipment
The PRC recently promulgated new laws in regard to imported medical instruments. The spirit behind the law is to raise the bar for such instruments so as to ensure proper safety standards are met.
Under the laws, special testing and verification for medical instrument product imports is to be carried out before registration to ensure the safety and effectiveness of products to be put on the market.
The State Drug Administration shall oversee all testing organizations. The duties of such organizations are to review registered product standards, to carry out testing on the basis of confirmed registered product standards and to issue test reports.
The unit applying for testing may choose a testing organization itself from among organizations recognized by the State Drug Administration as having testing capabilities. If, during the course of testing, the organization that undertook the testing is unable to fulfill the regulations in areas such as work time limits and testing capacity, the unit applying for registration may choose another testing organization.
(Source: Chinalegalchange.com)
China Tobacco Sellers Must Post Age-requirement Sign
From May 30, 2001, all of China's tobacco distribution centers, wholesale locations and retail counters must post a warning signs that read: "Elementary and middle school students are prohibited from smoking tobacco, and tobacco cannot be sold to anyone under 18."
The sign and the mandatory posting of the sign are part of a recent decision made by China's State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA) to curb underage smoking, which included the "Notice Regarding the Reinforcement of the Propaganda and Education of the Law Prohibiting Elementary and Middle-School Students From Smoking."
(Source: www.chinaonline.com)
Lehman Lee & Xu
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The China Lex Pharma Law 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.
