Trends and Characteristics of New Drug Approvals in China, 2011–2021

Abstract

BackgroundIn the past decade, the Chinese drug regulatory system has undergone many changes. A major reform starting in 2015 has significantly reshaped the regulatory processes. It was important to assess the impact of the reform on new drug approvals in China.MethodWe analyzed the temporal trends of regulatory characteristics of the new drugs approved by the Chinese regulatory agency from 2011 to 2021, using data collected in the Pharmcube database.ResultsA total of 353 new drugs were approved, including 220 small molecule drugs, 86 biological products and 47 vaccines. The annual number of new drug approvals increased dramatically since 2017, reaching a record high of 70 in 2021. The median NDA approval time was 15.4 months in 2017-2021, the shortest in the decade, and was significantly shorter than that in the pre-reform period. The newly instituted expedited pathways such as priority review (PR) and accelerated approval for urgently needed overseas drugs (UNOD) significantly reduced new drug application (NDA) approval times compared with standard review. For imported drugs, in 2017-2021, the median time difference between the first approval in the world and the approval in China was 5 years, representing significant “drug lag”. However, the proportion of the imported drugs approved in China within 3 years of its first foreign approval has increased to 24.4% in 2017-2021.ConclusionThe regulatory reform has produced significant, positive immediate outcomes in several metrics of drug regulatory approval. China’s regulatory system will continue to evolve as there still are many areas requiring further reform and improvement.