{"title":"New Drug Approvals in China: An International Comparative Analysis, 2019-2023.","authors":"Yilong Yan, Xiangyu Guo, Ziming Li, Weilin Shi, Min Long, Xiaolin Yue, Fanpu Kong, Zhigang Zhao","doi":"10.2147/DDDT.S514132","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>Over the past five years, China's pharmaceutical industry has rapidly developed but still lags behind global leaders. This study aims to analyze and compare the trends in new drug approvals in China, the United States (US), the European Union (EU), and Japan from 2019 to 2023.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Data on new drug approvals were collected from the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), European Medicines Agency (EMA), and Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (PMDA), including information on the generic name, trade name, applicants, target, approval date, drug type, approved indications, therapeutic area, the highest R&D status in China, and special approval status. The approval time gaps between China and other regions were calculated.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>From 2019 to 2023, China led with 256 new drug approvals, followed by the US (243 approvals), the EU (191 approvals), and Japan (187 approvals). Oncology, hematology, and infectiology were identified as the leading therapeutic areas globally and in China. Notably, PD-1 and EGFR inhibitors saw substantial approval, with 8 drugs each approved by the NMPA. China significantly reduced the approval timeline gap with the US and the EU since 2021, approving 15 first-in-class drugs during the study period.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Despite COVID-19 challenges, China has improved in both the quantity and speed of new drug approvals, narrowing timeline gaps with major markets and enhancing its global pharmaceutical presence.</p>","PeriodicalId":11290,"journal":{"name":"Drug Design, Development and Therapy","volume":"19 ","pages":"2629-2639"},"PeriodicalIF":4.7000,"publicationDate":"2025-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11974572/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Drug Design, Development and Therapy","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.2147/DDDT.S514132","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"CHEMISTRY, MEDICINAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Purpose: Over the past five years, China's pharmaceutical industry has rapidly developed but still lags behind global leaders. This study aims to analyze and compare the trends in new drug approvals in China, the United States (US), the European Union (EU), and Japan from 2019 to 2023.
Methods: Data on new drug approvals were collected from the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), European Medicines Agency (EMA), and Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (PMDA), including information on the generic name, trade name, applicants, target, approval date, drug type, approved indications, therapeutic area, the highest R&D status in China, and special approval status. The approval time gaps between China and other regions were calculated.
Results: From 2019 to 2023, China led with 256 new drug approvals, followed by the US (243 approvals), the EU (191 approvals), and Japan (187 approvals). Oncology, hematology, and infectiology were identified as the leading therapeutic areas globally and in China. Notably, PD-1 and EGFR inhibitors saw substantial approval, with 8 drugs each approved by the NMPA. China significantly reduced the approval timeline gap with the US and the EU since 2021, approving 15 first-in-class drugs during the study period.
Conclusion: Despite COVID-19 challenges, China has improved in both the quantity and speed of new drug approvals, narrowing timeline gaps with major markets and enhancing its global pharmaceutical presence.
期刊介绍:
Drug Design, Development and Therapy is an international, peer-reviewed, open access journal that spans the spectrum of drug design, discovery and development through to clinical applications.
The journal is characterized by the rapid reporting of high-quality original research, reviews, expert opinions, commentary and clinical studies in all therapeutic areas.
Specific topics covered by the journal include:
Drug target identification and validation
Phenotypic screening and target deconvolution
Biochemical analyses of drug targets and their pathways
New methods or relevant applications in molecular/drug design and computer-aided drug discovery*
Design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of novel biologically active compounds (including diagnostics or chemical probes)
Structural or molecular biological studies elucidating molecular recognition processes
Fragment-based drug discovery
Pharmaceutical/red biotechnology
Isolation, structural characterization, (bio)synthesis, bioengineering and pharmacological evaluation of natural products**
Distribution, pharmacokinetics and metabolic transformations of drugs or biologically active compounds in drug development
Drug delivery and formulation (design and characterization of dosage forms, release mechanisms and in vivo testing)
Preclinical development studies
Translational animal models
Mechanisms of action and signalling pathways
Toxicology
Gene therapy, cell therapy and immunotherapy
Personalized medicine and pharmacogenomics
Clinical drug evaluation
Patient safety and sustained use of medicines.