China updates Drug Administration Law to capture recent reforms

China's National People’s Congress passed the first full revision to its Drug Administration Law since 2001, codifying several recent policy reforms related to innovation and safety and establishing a basis for further reforms. The revised law will go into effect on Dec. 1. The law also increases penalties for manufacturing counterfeit or substandard drugs.

The revision incorporates or expands reforms that China FDA called for in 2017 and have since been implemented. That agency was the precursor to the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) (see "CFDA Proposes Changes to Drug Administration Act")...