July 12, 2007 -- In a high-profile move to burnish the image of its food and drug regulatory program, the State Food and Drug Administration of China will institute reforms in its approval process, beginning October 1 of this year. Wu Zhen, deputy chief of the SFDA, told a news briefing that drugs would be approved by a specially appointed panel, rather than a single official. Also, drug companies and R&D institutes will be provided with means to find out what is happening with the drugs under review. The changes in procedure were put in place to increase transparency and decrease the amount of corruption that crept into the previous system. More details...
