Innovative drugs reformer Bi out amid China vaccines scandal
Thursday’s resignation of Jingquan Bi, party secretary of the State Administration of Market Supervision, means that China has lost a champion of innovative biopharma products; however, it remains to be seen whether his departure will change the pace of regulatory innovation and the appetite for innovative drugs in the country.
Following a meeting of the Politburo Standing Committee presided over by Chinese President Xi Jinping, several government officials resigned amid allegations of quality control violations by Jilin-based vaccines producer Changchun Changsheng Bio-technology Co. Ltd. The officials included Bi, who is the former director of CFDA, the precursor to China’s State Drug Administration (SDA); Yuhui Jin, the deputy governor of Jilin who was in charge of food and drug supervision in the province; Jinxiu Li, the vice chairman of the Jilin Provincial Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and who was deputy governor in Jilin from December 2015 to April 2017; and Changlong Liu, mayor of Changchun City...