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news.China's State Council has published a white paper that reviewed the overall progress achieved in the pharmaceutical industry. The document focused on various legislative and administrative changes taken by the government and highlighted the hurdles that are yet to be overcome by the Chinese pharma industry, according to Scrip World Pharmaceutical News.
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According to the document, there are approximately 6,900 pharmaceutical enterprises in China that are producing 1,500 types of drug substance and more than one billion doses of 41 types of vaccines annually. The total output of the industry (including bulk, traditional medicine and device/equipment producers) rose by 33% to CNY667.9 billion in 2007.
The paper also revealed the size of the Chinese industry: there were 13,000 pharmaceutical wholesalers, along with 341,000 retailers and 554,000 drug outlets in rural areas by the end of 2007.
The documented highlighted the importance of the traditional Chinese medicines in the national healthcare system. The total output from this sector reached CNY177.2 billion in 2007.
The document also revealed that the national GCP certification system also improved with 179 facilities receiving GCP status in 2007. According to the China’s State Council, the drug manufacturing standards also received a fillip with the government beefing up its product monitoring and facility inspections.
However, the paper emphasized the need to reform the drug safety administration system, enhance drug standards, improve the drug facilities and build the capabilities of the drug industry. It also urged the government to focus on intellectual property protection and international exchange programs to boost the Chinese pharmaceutical industry.