(SFDA Decree No. 21)

The Special Review and Approval Procedure for Drug Registration of the State Food and Drug Administration, adopted at the executive meeting of the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) on November 18, 2005, is hereby promulgated and shall go into effect as of the date of promulgation.


                                                                                               Shao Mingli
                                                                                               Commissioner of SFDA
                                                                                               November 18, 2005





         Special Review and Approval Procedure for Drug Registration of the State Food and
                                                            Drug Administration 


                                                   Chapter 1    General Provisions

Article 1    This Procedure is formulated for the purpose of effective prevention, timely control and elimination of the hazards of public health emergencies to ensure the health and safety of the public in accordance with the Drug Administration Law of the People’s Republic of China, Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Prevention and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, Regulations for Implementation of the Drug Administration Law of the People’s Republic of China, Regulations on Preparedness for and Response to Emergent Public Health Hazards, and other relevant laws and regulations.

Article 2    The special review and approval procedure for drug registration refers to the procedure and requirements of the State Food and Drug Administration to carry out special review and approval of drugs for handling public heath emergencies under the principle of unified leadership, early involvement, expeditiousness and efficiency, and scientific review and approval, in an effort to approve drugs for the prevention and treatment of public health emergencies as soon as possible under the threat or after the occurrence of public heath emergencies.

Article 3    The State Food and Drug Administration may, according to law, decide to follow the Procedure to conduct special review and approval of drugs for public health emergencies in any of the following circumstances:
(1) Where the President of the People’s Republic of China declares a state of emergency or the State Council decides that certain areas within a province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government are in a state of emergency;
(2) Where the contingency program for public health emergencies is initiated according to law;
(3) Where the drug reserve department or the health administrative department of the State Council proposes a special review and approval for drugs having existing national drug standard;
(4) Other circumstances applicable to special review and approval.

Article 4    The State Food and Drug Administration is responsible for the review and approval of clinical trials, production and importation of drugs for the prevention and treatment of public health emergencies.

The (food and) drug regulatory department of a province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government shall, upon entrustment of the State Food and Drug Administration, be responsible for on-site inspection and sampling of the pilot products of the drugs for the prevention and treatment of public health emergencies.


                                Chapter 2    Application Acceptance and On-site Inspection

Article 5    Where the special review and approval procedure for drug registration is initiated, the State Food and Drug Administration is responsible for the acceptance of registration applications for drugs for public health emergencies.

Where a drug or a preventive biological product for public health emergencies has not been marketed in China, the applicant shall, before submission of the registration application, provide the State Food and Drug Administration with relevant research and development information.

Article 6    The applicant shall submit a registration application with relevant technical dossier to the State Food and Drug Administration according to the relevant provisions and requirements on administration of drug registration.

The registration application for drug for public health emergencies may be submitted in electronic form.

Article 7    Before submitting an application for registration, the applicant may provide a feasibility assessment application with general information and relevant explanations. The State Food and Drug Administration shall only comment on the scientific rationality and feasibility of the drug project, and respond within 24 hours.

The response to a feasibility assessment application shall be neither deemed as the review and approval opinion nor legally binding on the review and approval result of a registration application.

Article 8    The State Food and Drug Administration shall organize an expert group to evaluate and review the registration application for drug for the prevention and treatment of public health emergencies, make a decision within 24 hours on whether or not to accept the application, and notify the applicant.

Article 9    Where a registration application is accepted, the State Food and Drug Administration shall organize technical review of submitted dossier within 24 hours and at the same time notify the (food and) drug regulatory department of the province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government where the applicant is located to conduct an on-site inspection on drug research and development conditions, and organize sampling and testing of pilot products.

The (food and) drug regulatory department of the province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government shall, within five days, submit the on-site inspection result and relevant opinion to the State Food and Drug Administration.

Article 10    The (food and) drug regulatory department of the province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government shall organize staff from the departments of drug registration, drug safety and inspection, etc. to participate in the on-site inspection.

The National Institute for the Control of Pharmaceutical and Biological Products shall be notified to send staff to participate in the on-site inspection and sampling of preventive biological products.

Article 11    For drugs that have existing national standards for the prevention and treatment of public health emergencies, the State Food and Drug Administration may directly review and approve the drug in accordance with the relevant provisions in Chapter 6 of the Procedure when it deems there is no need for a clinical trial in accordance with law.

Article 12    With respect to the registration application for a specific vaccine, where only the original virus strain used in the manufacturing is changed while the manufacturing processes or quality specifications are maintained, the State Food and Drug Administration shall make a decision on whether or not to grant the approval within three days after verifying the changed strain used in the manufacturing.


                                                Chapter 3    Testing for Registration

Article 13    After receiving the samples taken by the (food and) drug regulatory department of a province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government, the drug testing institution shall immediately organize verification of specifications and laboratory testing on the samples.

The drug testing institution shall complete the testing within the time frame for the drug being applied.

Article 14    For a drug applied first time for marketing, the State Food and Drug Administration may, when necessary, make early involvement by appointing the National Institute for the Control of Pharmaceutical and Biological Products to communicate with the applicant prior to testing for registration so as to timely resolve technical problems which may arise in the process of quality specifications verification and laboratory testing.

With respect to preventive biological products used to prevent and control the epidemic of serious infectious diseases, the State Food and Drug Administration may, depending on the situation, allow the testing for registration and the manufacturer’s self-testing to be performed in parallel.

Article 15    After completion of the specifications verification and laboratory testing on a drug, the drug testing institution shall, within two days, issue its verification opinion and submit it along with the drug test report to the State Food and Drug Administration.


                                                      Chapter 4    Technical Review

Article 16    The State Food and Drug Administration shall, within 15 days after acceptance of the registration application for drug for the prevention and treatment in public health emergencies, complete the first round of technical review.

Article 17    Where the State Food and Drug Administration considers that additional data are needed, it shall immediately inform the applicant of the content and timeline.

Where the applicant submits the supplementary data within the specified timeline, the State Food and Drug Administration shall complete the technical review within three days, or, depending on the situations, organize another review meeting within five days, and then complete the review report within two days.


                                                          Chapter 5    Clinical Trial

Article 18    Where the technical review is completed, the State Food and Drug Administration shall, within three days, complete the administrative examination, make a decision and inform the applicant.

Where the State Food and Drug Administration decides to approve a clinical trial, it shall issue a Drug Clinical Trial Approval. Where it decides not to approve, it shall issue a Disapproval Notice with reasons.

Article 19    Where an applicant obtains a clinical trial approval, it shall conduct the trial strictly following the relevant requirements in the approval document, and comply with the Good Clinical Practice.

Article 20    Drug clinical trials shall be conducted in institutions legally certified for drug clinical trials. If a clinical trial has to be conducted by an institution not yet certified, a special approval by the State Food and Drug Administration should be obtained.

The application for a clinical trial conducted by an institution not yet certified for drug clinical trials may be submitted along with the application for drug registration.

Article 21    The investigator responsible for a drug clinical trial shall, in accordance with the relevant provisions, timely report adverse events occurred in the process of the clinical trial to the State Food and Drug Administration. If no adverse event occurs, the investigator shall collect relevant information and report to the State Food and Drug Administration monthly.

Article 22    The State Food and Drug Administration shall, in accordance with law, supervise and inspect the clinical trials of drugs for public health emergencies.


                          Chapter 6     Review, Approval and Monitoring of Drug Production

Article 23    The applicant shall, after completion of the drug clinical trials, submit the relevant data to the State Food and Drug Administration in accordance with the Provisions for Drug Registration.

Article 24    The State Food and Drug Administration shall, within 24 hours after receiving data submitted by the applicant, organize technical review, and at the same time notify the (food and) drug regulatory department of the province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government where the applicant is located to conduct the on-site inspection on the drug manufacturing conditions, and organize the sampling and testing of pilot products.

The (food and) drug regulatory department of the province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government shall, within five days, submit the result and opinion of the on-site inspection to the State Food and Drug Administration.

Article 25    Any newly-established drug manufacturer or manufacturer with newly-built manufacturing workshops or newly-added dosage forms for production may apply to the State Food and Drug Administration for a certificate of the Good Manufacturing Practice along with the application for drug registration. The State Food and Drug Administration shall, when conducting the drug registration review, immediately carry out an inspection on the Good Manufacturing Practice certification.

Article 26    The drug testing institution shall, after receiving the samples of three batches taken by the (food and) drug regulatory department of the province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government, immediately arrange the testing.

Upon completion of testing, the drug testing institution shall, within two days, complete the test report and submit it to the State Food and Drug Administration.

Article 27    The State Food and Drug Administration shall carry out technical review in accordance with Chapter 4 of the Procedure, and shall, within three days after the completion of the technical review, complete the administrative examination, make a decision and inform the applicant.
Where the State Food and Drug Administration decides to approve the drug, it shall issue the Letter of Approval for Drug Registration, and may grant an approval number for the drug at the same time if the applicant has appropriate manufacturing conditions; if it decides to disapprove the manufacturing, it shall issue a Disapproval Notice with reasons.

Article 28    Where a drug manufacturer or distributor, or a medical and health institution finds any new or serious adverse drug reaction or cluster adverse reaction relating to a specially approved drug for public health emergencies, it shall immediately report the case to the local (food and) drug regulatory department of the province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government, the health administrative department at the provincial level and the professional institution for adverse drug reactions monitoring.

The professional institution for adverse drug reactions monitoring shall regard drugs specially approved for public health emergencies as critically monitored products, analyze the collected case reports in accordance with the relevant provisions and timely report to the (food and) drug regulatory department of the province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government and the State Food and Drug Administration.

The State Food and Drug Administration shall reinforce the reevaluation of approved drugs for public health emergencies after they are marketed.


                                               Chapter 7    Supplementary Provisions

Article 29    The measures for special review and approval of the medical devices for public health emergencies shall be separately formulated by the State Food and Drug Administration with reference to the relevant provisions of the Procedure.

Article 30    The Procedure shall go into effect as of the date of promulgation.