A short-lived but shocking attempt to declare martial law by South Korea's president has thrown the country into political turmoil which could disrupt foreign biopharma investment and key policy initiatives.
The majority of new drugs added to the latest revision of China's NRDL were developed by Chinese companies, although half of the global top 20 pharmas also have new entries. Bispecifics were included for the first time but no CAR-Ts made the cut.
A new batch of positive approval recommendations in Japan includes an ALS drug requested by a local patient group.
India continues to reform biopharma regulatory processes and widen digitization efforts. The regulator will curb "re-deliberations" at subject expert committee meetings unless applicants furnish new data.
US President-elect Donald Trump’s second term is seen in general as “bad news” for Asia, especially China, by some analysts. But the outlook for India pharma appears upbeat, says a cross-section of experts.
A new drug-hunting initiative funded by the Chinese government will focus on novel therapies for chronic diseases and encourage academia-industry collaboration.
The head of the Korea Regulatory Science Center talks exclusively to the Pink Sheet about why regulatory science is crucial, the country's efforts to improve in the area and the center's strategic bridging role.
Asia-Pacific continues to solidify its position as a key location for clinical trials, with China in particular dominating such activity in the region, and increasingly globally, a new Citeline White Paper shows.
While Japan awarded relatively high premiums to several products newly listed for reimbursement, others were the subject of prolonged debate or are facing imminent cost-effectiveness assessment.
Japan has granted an initial reimbursement price for Kisunla slightly above that for Alzheimer's rival Leqembi, but is holding out the prospect of future price revisions.
China implements a new pilot scheme allowing non-end-to-end manufacturing of certain biologics before possible nationwide implementation for all such products, with resource optimization and aligned quality management systems among the main goals.
Japan has implemented a streamlined regulatory system designed to enable speedier approvals of selected drugs for designated categories of infectious diseases, which does not require Japanese clinical data.
A session at the recent KoNECT conference in Seoul looked at Korea’s strengths in clinical trials but also at what's needed to further improve its global competitiveness as a location for studies.
China has proposed new guidelines designed to head off potential bribery by pharma companies related to the conduct of clinical studies and possible manipulation of outcomes.
Along with several new positive approval recommendations, Japan's proceeding to grant Sakigake designation to two drugs including a DMD gene therapy discovered through public collaboration. Meanwhile, the PMDA has opened a new full-time office in the US.
The UK’s drug regulator, the MHRA, is exploring new opportunities to work closer with its counterparts from Australia, Canada, Singapore and Switzerland under the ACCESS Consortium group, with a focus on pre-submission scientific advice.
The move towards greater regulatory collaboration is a positive step for gene therapy developers, Astellas’ gene therapy strategy lead Richard Wilson says – adding, however, that pharma still needed to understand the Asian markets better.
Japan is cautiously easing Japanese clinical data requirements for rare disease drugs to allow faster and more flexible approvals, including on a conditional basis supported by postmarketing studies.
Dispute around the first-in-world license for a self-amplifying mRNA COVID-19 vaccine castes light on Japan’s ongoing dilemma between a government trying to build its own capabilities to attract, develop and manufacture new modalities and the anti-vax movement in the country.
Whether the legislation aimed at discouraging use of Chinese contractors passes in its current form or not, industry will continue to face more pressure to decouple its operations.