China Revamps Traditional Medicine to Meet Global StandardsChina is putting an emphasis on global standards in the production of herbal medicine and strengthening technological innovations.The nation's largest conglomerate of traditional Chinese medicine businesses, the China Medicinal Materials Group was set up on Sunday, indicating a shakeup in the industrial landscape. The group, formed by a number of leading Chinese manufacturers, distributors and innovators of traditional Chinese medicine, shows the country's ambition to have an industrial giant competing on the world stage, Monday's China Daily reported. Ren Dequan, deputy director of the State Drug Administration, said that China will iron out stiffer regulations this year to bring the industry up to global standards. The fact that its products aren't up to these standards is one of the key problems for Chinese drug firms to enter the global market. China recently revised its law on drug administration, the latest but boldest effort ever to tighten the grip on medicine production and supervision. The updated law strengthens supervision and keeps a closer eye on the whole process of manufacturing drugs as well as monitoring their quality, underscoring China's bid to ensure production goes by global rules. At the same time, Chinese government is strengthening its financial support of technological innovation in the traditional Chinese medicine sector. This has become one of the key issues on the agenda for China's high-tech innovation plan over the next five years, according to the newspaper. Cash will be poured into planting the raw materials needed for traditional Chinese medicine, upgrading facilities to produce them, officials said. |
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