US FDA launches China office

On November 19, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officially opened its China office in Beijing, the first for the FDA outside the US. Shao Mingli, head of the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), Mike Leavitt, secretary of Health and Human Services, FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach and the US Ambassador to China, Clark T. Randt, jointly attended the opening ceremony and cut the ribbon.

According to a message from the Ministry of Health, China is also planning to set up counterpart food and drug regulatory agencies in the US. Health Minister Chen Zhu said he hoped the measure would play a positive role in the communication and exchange between governments and enterprise regulatory departments of the two countries and also provide an opportunity for the two countries to learn from one another and increase understanding between them.

Reporters learnt that the three regulatory agencies set up by the US in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai will soon be put into operation. Their major responsibilities are to conduct capacity-building for food and drug safety monitoring in China and the inspection of imported food and drugs from the US.