China's SFDA confirms copycat drug crackdown

China's State Food and Drug Administration will take action to reduce the problem of copycat drugs being sold as "new" drugs, according to the agency's Director, Shao Mingli. The country's most senior drug safety administrator was speaking at a national drug conference in Beijing. Last year's event was notable for the arrests of Cao Wenzhuang, the SFDA's director of drug registration, (Marketletter February 27, 2006).

Largely because of price controls, which provide higher rewards for new drugs compared with older products, Chinese drugmakers tend to submit applications for repackaged products, with over 10,000 new drugs proposed in 2004 alone (Marketletters passim).

Zou Xinjin, a drug industry analyst at China Securities Research, explained that "96% of China's chemical drugs are imitations as our drug companies can't afford the high cost of developing new drugs."