China To Set Up Drug Innovation Structure Within Three Years
This article was originally published in PharmAsia News
Executive Summary
At the recent New Drug Innovation and CRO Forum in China, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Sang Guo-Wei reported that China's pharmaceutical industry's strategy is moving from imitating generic drugs to innovating on generics. Sang, who is also an academic at Chinese Academy of Engineering, noted that China has the basic requirements for creating new drugs, including talent, technology, industry and economic fundamentals. To date, the country has 150 medicines under clinical trials and 2,000 medicines ready for the clinical phase. China's goal is to establish an innovation system by stages: innovation transition phase from 2008 - 2010, when the government will invest at least 6.6 billion yuan $960 million) to set up the infrastructure; closing the gap between China and developed countries from 2011 - 2015; and by 2020, attaining the level of the developed countries. (Click here for more - Chinese Language)