Human vaccines for bird flu and other epidemics will go through
fast-track government examination procedures for timely production
to combat the virus, according to a notice issued by China's State
Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) on Saturday.
SFDA has initiated a set of special procedures to quicken the
examination and approval of medicines for treating epidemics that
trigger public health concern, said the notice.
Human-use vaccines for bird flu developed by Chinese companies
will enjoy the privilege, while SFDA will conduct feasibility study
before the application is filed and learn about the progress of the
medicine's research and development in the early stage of medicine
registration application.
Processing application, on-the-spot check, technological
examination and evaluation, registration examination and follow-up
monitoring of the medicines will be carried out immediately after
receiving the registration application, according to the
notice.
Beijing-based vaccine producer Sinovac Biotech, the first in the
world to develop a SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome)
vaccine, has applied to SFDA for human clinical tests on human-use
bird flu vaccine. The company said it would start mass production
once the clinical trials are successful.
(Xinhua News Agency November 20, 2005)