China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) struggles as its senior employees get lured away by the companies that the agency had regulated. The staffs were offered bigger paychecks and more freedom in terms of work.
Just when the country is looking forward to innovate its regulatory procedure and production of high-quality medicine, CFDA is experiencing staffing issues as their senior staff transferred to private companies that offered over 600,000 yuan annually. At CFDA, they earn around 120,000 yuan.
The lack of senior staff hinders CFDA in its function as the regulator of the country's drug market, considering it is the second largest of its kind on the planet. The organization is tasked to monitor and test new medicines.
"Being able to evaluate and approve drugs is what decides the competitiveness of a country's pharmaceutical market," stated CFDA. On the other hand, Reuters reported that the agency admitted its current lack in such ability to assess and consent drugs.
China's ambition to come up with advanced drugs to fight various diseases such as Ebola and cancer seems to be in danger, as Director Bi Jingquan said that the number of people who are trained to test drugs in the agency does not even reach 500. The United States' Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has around 5,000 drug evaluation staff, while CFDA has 130 employees doing the same task.
Hua Medicine's CEO Li Chen said that Bi is tough when it comes to the regulation of drugs in the country. Appointed in 2015, Bi has been busy establishing drug approval-related policies, as well as stricter tests for generic drugs. The director is also giving no mercy on deceitful data purported from drug trials.
Senior analyst Sophie Cairns of the IHS Life Sciences noted, "China's growth and appetite for medicines are growing faster than its regulatory infrastructure can keep up."