China's push on innovation nourishes cross-border collaborations

China has recently done much work to encourage novel drug development in the country. Among the efforts is a testing program of market authorization holder scheme (MAH), an optimized approval process for novel drugs and the requirement of clinical data validation, reports The Pharma Letter’s local correspondent Wang Fangquing.

In 2017, the reform will continue, said Yu Huan, a director of China’s Food and Drug Administration, at the China Healthcare Investment Conference (CHIC) held in late March in Shanghai.

“At the CFDA, some of the topics are already in discussion. We want to make it a little easier for companies to bring novel drugs to our patients,” Mr Yu said.