The China-based Pharmaceutical Association has approved a new plan to put more emphasis on quality control. The plan, set to be announced next year by the State Food and Drug Administration, should eliminate some unqualified producers in the industry. The nonprofit association represents 37 multinational pharmaceutical manufacturers, mostly from Europe, the US and Japan. The Association’s Managing Director Liu Zhenxian said that to be competitive, many pharmaceutical companies emphasize lower prices, which may affect drug quality. Chen Yi, the association’s director of healthcare economics, said that the industry is comprised of 5,000 mostly small- and medium-sized companies, that generic drug producers comprise almost 70% of all enterprises and that prices for Chinese generic drugs are about 20%–30% of the international average. A survey of pharmaceutical companies by Ernst & Young revealed that quality control is organizations’ primary concern.

Source: Science Business