Beijing is significantly accelerating the approval process for innovative drugs, with pilot projects cutting review times for clinical trials to as few as 18 working days, according to the Beijing Municipal Medical Products Administration. 

Before an innovative drug can be marketed, it must undergo clinical trials to assess its safety and effectiveness. Improving the speed and quality of these trials can help deliver new treatments to patients more quickly.

The National Medical Products Administration released a pilot plan in July 2024 to optimize the review and approval of clinical trials for innovative drugs. Beijing was selected as a pilot region on Aug. 2.

On April 7, Beijing introduced new measures to promote high-quality development in innovative medicine, including efforts to deepen the pilot program for reviewing and approving clinical trials. The initiative aims to cut approval times from 60 working days to 30 and to expand the range of drugs and medical devices covered under the program.

According to the Beijing Municipal Medical Products Administration, 10 trial projects have been included so far. Eight of these have already received clinical trial approval, with an average review time of 23.8 working days and the fastest approval in just 18 working days. This represents an acceleration of up to 70%. The average time from approval to the start of the trial was 6.2 weeks, with the quickest being three weeks, marking a significant increase in efficiency.