Meanwhile, 28 innovative medical equipment products were approved for market launch, according to the NMPA.
Jiao Hong, head of the administration, said at a press conference that the ongoing reform focuses on encouraging innovation, adding that the NMPA is allocating more resources to the review of innovative drugs, pediatric drugs and rare-disease drugs with high clinical urgency and clear efficacy.
Huang Guo, deputy head of the NMPA, said the administration had been facilitating the market launch of rare-disease drugs by providing supportive policies to encourage the research of rare-disease drugs and forming special review teams to closely follow the research and development of such drugs.
A total of 23 new overseas rare-disease drugs have been approved to enter the Chinese market via a dedicated channel, which was established in 2018 to prioritize the review and approval process for clinically urgent new overseas drugs, according to the NMPA.