CHINA HEALTH SCIENCES NEWSLETTER
Vol. 3 , No.14 - June 19, 2002
TOPICS THIS ISSUE:
- Chinese Drug Advertisements Called Into Question
- Scientists Work for High-tech Olympics
- Toxic Waste Disposal Project Launched in Harbin
- Medicine Colossus Launches Operation
- Pharmaceutical Industry Boosts Production January - April 2002
- China's Medical Price Index
Chinese Drug Advertisements Called Into Question
In Shanghai recently, a seminar was held to discuss the issue of domestic pharmaceutical companies, in attempting to promote sales of their products, falsely claiming to have US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval.
The State Drug Administration of China and the US Department of Commerce sponsored the seminar in an attempt to help Chinese officials learn how the FDA works and how Chinese pharmaceutical regulations can be improved. More than 100 pharmaceutical regulators from around the country took part in the seminars lead by five experts from the FDA. During the seminar, Xu Zhou, a spokesman for the Shanghai Drug Administration described the claims made by some domestic pharmaceutical companies mentioned above as "very misleading."
Mr. David Lepay, the FDA's senior adviser for clinical science told the seminar that the biggest barrier to FDA approval for Chinese products was the requirement that manufacturers must provide the FDA with substantial evidence of its safety and effectiveness based on well-controlled studies.
Due to many Chinese drug manufacturers engaging in irregular practices, studies performed at domestic research facilities aren't recognized internationally, so they cannot be used to gain FDA recognition for a product, according to Du Wenmin, director of Shanghai Adverse Drug Reaction Supervision Center.
(Source: eastday.com)
Scientists Work for High-tech Olympics
Recently in Beijing, The Science and Technology Committee was unveiled in an attempt to ensure that the 2008 Olympic Games, to be held in Beijing, are the safest and most technically advanced games ever and to meet the city's promise of holding the "high-tech Games.'' The new committee will serve as the top science and technology advisory body to the Beijing Organizing Committee and combines 10 central governmental departments and leading scientific research including the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
The Minister for Science and Technology, Xu Guanhua, promised that the country will accelerate its scientific research efforts to make the 2008 Olympic Games the "best Olympiad featuring the latest technologies.'' The Minister said that there would be a focus on nine key sectors, including the Beijing Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) strategy, electric bus industry, clean energy supplies, satellite technology, multi-lingual service networks, sandstorm defense, anti-doping testing, information security and food safety.
Mr. Lin, a Beijing Olympic Committee official, said the role of the new committee would also be to work closely with developers on Olympic construction projects to ensure that Olympic facilities were equipped with the latest technology.
(Source: China Daily)
Toxic Waste Disposal Project Launched in Harbin
Earlier this year, the city of Harbin launched a program for the safe disposal of a major part of its toxic waste. By the year 2005, the program aims to have removed the majority all kinds of dangerous waste from the environment.
In accordance with the central governments new environmental push, Harbin aims at getting rid of 95% of its dangerous medical wastes by the end of June this year. Forty-seven categories of wastes are listed by the state as dangerous, and topping that list in order are clinical wastes, medical wastes and medicine wastes.
Last year, Harbin produced approximately 67,500 tons of dangerous wastes. In an attempt to minimize the impact on the environment of such waste, a center in Harbin has been built with the daily capacity of disposing of some 10 tons of medical waste through burning, burying and re-cycling.
Further, Harbin has enhanced technical research on the disposal of dangerous wastes. For instance, the city's environmental protection bureau, in collaboration with the Harbin Institute of Technology, launched a key research project for the recycling and reusing of batteries.
(Source: china.org.cn)
Medicine Colossus Launches Operation
In Beijing recently, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), a leading international pharmaceutical company, officially launched its China operation. GSK became one of the largest multinational pharmaceutical companies in December 2000, following the US $76 billion merger between Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham.
Mr. Paul Carter, President of GSK China, was quoted as saying "GSK hopes to become the leader in China's pharmaceuticals market. We expect to increase our market share in China from the current 3% to 7.3%, equaling our share in the global market."
Mr. Carter noted that in China, GSK expects its sales revenue to grow to US $362.5 million this year and to achieve a 15% annual increase over the next few years. GSK already has a number of interests in China, encompassing seven manufacturing facilities, 68 offices, five joint ventures and more than 2,000 employees. Nearly 70 of the company's pharmaceutical products have been registered in China.
GSK has taken more than one year to complete the integration of its organizational restructure, product portfolio and businesses in China and some experts have cast doubt on the profitability of the company's two major investments in China - the US $92 million plant located in Tianjin and the US $136 million Suzhou plant, due to a market full of irregularities. High-level managers of the company have said that the two plants may be integrated into a single plant in the future to improve economic efficiency.
Mr. Carter has also foreshadowed the possibility of some redundancies and further restructuring due to "changes necessary to meet the objectives of the new company." "But all the changes will be made to achieve efficiency and to improve the company's competitive edge," Mr. Carter said. Nevertheless, Mr. Carter stressed that he was confident in the huge potential of the Chinese market. He said a fair and favorable business environment for pharmaceutical companies will surely develop in China's dynamic and fast-growing market.
(Source: China Daily)
Pharmaceutical Industry Boosts Production January - April 2002
China produced pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical related products worth RMB 98.79 billion in the January- April 2002 period, which is an increase of 21.3% on the same period last year and 4.9% higher than the average increase in other national industries.
The industrial added value for the period was RMB 29.04 billion, up 18.1% on the same period last year and 6.9% higher than the national average. The output value of new products reached RMB 10.61 billion, up 17.1%.
Chinese industries sold pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical related products worth RMB 53.13 billion for this period, up 20.7% on the same time last year. The gross profit of the pharmaceuticals industry was RMB 3.53 billion for the period, an increase of 35.0%.
The gross output and added value of chemical drugs increased by 24.4% and 18.82% respectively. The gross output and added value of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) also increase by 14.86% and 13.09% respectively.
The sales/production ratio of chemical drugs was 92.98% a 0.94% increase on the national industry average and the sales/production ration of the TCM industry reached 90.1%, a fall of 1.94%.
The sales income and profits of state and state-controlled enterprises for this period increased by 12.74% and 30.89% respectively over the same period of last year, while foreign investment and wholly foreign owned enterprises sales income and profits rose by 21.18% and 45.78%.
According to customs statistics, the import and export value of China's pharmaceutical and pharmaceutical related products came to US $1.66 billion for the January-April 2002 period, an increase of 7.55% over the same last year period. The level of pharmaceutical and pharmaceutical related imports and exports was US $780 million, up 0.9%, and US $870 million, up 14.34% respectively.
During the January-April 2002 period, 29.8% of pharmaceutical enterprises had reported general debility, an increase of 2.9% over the same period last year, and the amount of losses are valued at RMB 820 million, up 4.9%.
(Source: Xinhua News Agency)
China's Medical Price Index
China's National Bureau of Statistics has recently released the price indices of medical products and services for the year ending in May:
Medical Products and Service | Change (percentage) |
Western medicine | - 5.8% |
Traditional Chinese medicine | - 3.4% |
Medical service | 8.0% |
Total | - 1.2% |
(Source: Xinhua News Agency)
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