China’s State Council has announced a four-year plan to increase drug standards to meet international levels. The new standards would cover 6,500 drugs, including 2,800 drugs based on traditional Chinese medicines. Also included would be 2,500 chemical-based drugs and 200 biologic drugs. However, the priority would be drugs listed in the country’s catalog of essential drugs. According to Zhou Fucheng of the Chinese Pharmacopoeia Commission, Chinese standards for attributes such as purity are less advanced than those used outside the country. Citing antibiotic azithromycin as an example, she said Europe and the US can respectively monitor the drug for 15 and 13 types of impurities, but China can only control for three types. The plan states that international quality standards should be met by 2015.

Source: South China Morning Post