China's Fast-Track Drug Approval

With well over a billion people, the medicinal needs of China are humongous.  They are in need of many different medications to cover their people's needs.  The government is concerned with protecting their country from dangerous medications.  They have set up a rigorous process to get medications approved for sale, but in doing so, have caused there to be a very large backlog of orders.  

In this article, they talked about the new process that China will now be doing in approving pharmaceutical drugs.  They now allow pharmaceutical companies to use trial data from other countries.  This will allow them to then use the research provided by other countries to get the approval rather than start from scratch every time.  This will help ease the backlog or medicines awaiting approval.  Many vaccines that have been around for over a decade, finally got approved within the last year or so in China.

The reason that this is so important is they don't have to try to translate results of animal test subjects to humans.  They can now see how clinical trials have worked on other populations and use that information for their own population.  Animals will no longer be used as often as test subjects.  

The reason that I chose this article is that I work in the medical field.  I see first hand the side effects of some medication.  I see the benefits of having alternative medications available.  Pricing is also a very big factor in which medications people will use.  If their insurance doesn't cover it, they will ask for an alternative.  If the alternative isn't available, then it often comes at great cost to the patient who may not be able to afford it.  This causes problems, especially if the condition is fatal if left untreated.

http://www.nature.com/news/china-announces-plans-to-fast-track-drug-approval-1.22888