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Shanghai's first international drug development center was launched

This Pharma Development Center backed by Roche aims to reduce the waiting time of Chinese patients for new medicines. They have also promised that new medicines for cancer and diabetes can be delivered safely to patients after the development process carried out in Europe or North America.

New gene therapy drug CHINABIO TODAY

Sunway Biotech of Shanghai and Genzyme reached an agreement to develop together an experiment gene therapy drug helping the growth of blood.

Announcing of the new Cure King brand of veterinary medicines launched by Skytar Bio-Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. This cure is composed of 26 products in 3 groups of Traditional Chinese Medicines (TCM) and Westerns, yet.
According to Mr. Weibing Lu (CEO and Chairman of Shytar), the company is "based on nationwide market research" and they "...they have found certain diseases to be prevalent in livestock. A unified brand targeting the treatment of these diseases is precisely what the market needs given the lack of consistency and number of inferior medicines on the market."

Bayer and a joint project

Bayer has announced according to China Daily "it will finance a chair in sustainable development at Tongji University. The chair is a joint project with Tongji University and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)".
This project will be held for 5 years and will cost $1 million to Bayer.

According to Bionews "Pharmaceuticals major Ranbaxy Laboratories plans to leverage the cost advantage of Chinese raw materials by making China its major active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) sourcing hub".
Ranbaxy was established in China through a joint venture yet in Guangzhou, but this project will provide to the company a deeper involving and new partnerships options.

Doctor Dapei Lu and the Beijing Daopei Hospital in Beijing will be collaborated on the the Phase I of the clinical test launched by Generex Biotechnology Corporation (GNBT) for its cancer immunotherapy in China.
GNBT said that the Vice-President of Biology at Antigen Express, Inc (the immunotherapy subsidiary) doctor Minzhen Xu will develop on the "pre-clinical studies performed by" the subsidiary “…in preparation for its clinical trials in China”, said in Bionews.
This new potential medicine according to Bionews "seeks to force tumor cells to express associated antigens in a way that makes them more visible to the immune system".

Massive physicians training in China thanks to Bayer Healthcare

An agreement signed between the Germany-headquartered firm Bayer Healthcare (BHC) and Chinese Ministry of Health concerning medical training. More than 10,000 doctors will be train from county-level hospitals in the next 5 years by BHC. That's represents an investment of 20 million Yuan (2.66 million U.S. dollars) which offers training courses for physicians, surgeons, gynecologists, obstetricians and pediatricians

Two drugs production suspended in China

Two drugs used for leukemia and rheumatoid arthritis (made by Hualian Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd) have been suspended by the China's Ministry of Health and the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA). The decision had been done after a report done by the National Center for Adverse Drug Reaction Monitoring, to prevent incidents and for the safety. The methotrexate and cytarabin hydrochloride had made severe reactions as problems for walking.

Patients: good news

All state-owned hospitals in Songjiang District will stop charging an extra 15 percent for pharmaceuticals for patients from today,which is the first one in the nation to do this.

New project aims at fatal disease gene CHINA NEWS

1,475 diseases can be diagnosed or forecast via gene analysis.

A new project aims at fatal disease gene,which is with 20 medical institutions taking part in it. Doctors want to find out the genes that cause common fatal diseases of the Chinese people.

A program for looking after mental patients CHINA NEWS

There are 16 million Chinese suffering from severe mental diseases, and 30 million adolescents afflicted by emotional disorders in China.
The government will launch a program which will offer professional training to nurses and doctors on how to look after mental patients.It will extend to 102 cities in 2008.

Chinese women need more knowledge of contraception

According to the results of a survey released in Shanghai, many Chinese women have a poor understanding of oral contraceptive pills. More than 64 percent of women consider the condom as the best contraceptive method.
But doctors suggest that contraceptive pill is a good choice since present contraceptive pills have very low estrogen content and other positive effects.

Banned drugs won't be available without prescriptions

The government will stop the athletes from doping with the strict control of the drug market. This program started in Wuhan and had inspected the pharmacies one by one to keep the performance-enhancing substances away from the Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs list before Sixth Chinese City Games opens on Thursday.
A new and independent anti-doping organization is about to be set up in a bid to enhance strength and efficiency in cracking down on use of drugs by athletes.

Forced rehabilitation programs for Drug addicts will be extended

Ministry of Public Security said, the country now has about 720,000 drug abusers.
A draft law will extend forced rehabilitation programs lasting up to three years. According to the bill, rehabilitation centers should only admit frequent intravenous drug takers, people who refuse community assistance or fail community correction programs, and those who live in communities without correction resources. It will be organized to serve people of different ages, gender and levels of addiction..

The medical helping project for mainland from HK

A Hongkong program aims to create 100 centers in the mainland to provide cataract operations for the poor. Elsie Leung Oi-sie, a consulter for the Project Vision Charity Fund, says the effort will treat poor people who can't afford operations and aim to perform at least 10,000 cataract operations each year.

A meeting for Diseases therapies with surgeons from Asia

The 16th Asian Congress of Surgery and third Chinese Surgical Week were held in Beijing on Saturday 20th of October. The purpose of the debate was to develop illness's therapies.
Wu Yi (Chinese Vice-Premier) explained in a letter that she was congratulating this meeting and "hoped surgeons from different fields to join hands in research so as to push forwards the science of medicine and benefit the health of Human beings", was said on China Daily. They were 3,500 surgical experts coming from all over Asia.

Healthcare for all: government engagement by 2020

During the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Vice-Minister of Health Gao Giang has announced that "all people in urban and rural areas will enjoy basic medical care and health services by 2020". He did not develop much more on the project but he put the stress on his wishes to make sure the medical services, supplies systems and insurance will work together.

W.H.O. launched an official document to standardize TCM's terms

The World Health Organization (WHO) has listed in an official document, very recently in Beijing, all the standards terminologies of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) according to the China Daily.
They have gathered almost 4,000 terminologies to make sure they will not be lost in translation.
The TCM is followed by more and more people specially the Westerns, so this document is coming right on time as Seung Hoon Choi (Regional Traditional Medicine adviser at WPRO) said "the document just meets the pressing need of traditional medicine practitioners for a common language".

Authorities strengthened drug's control

China has reinforced its control over psychotropic and narcotic drugs to health public safety. To make sure this issue will end, the "production, supply, distribution, inventory and flow of these drugs" is being keep watch over since September according to Yan Jiangyin (spokeswoman of the State of Food and Drug administration) in an interview on China Daily. In brief the whole supply-chain is being monitored by the SFDA

Inspection of Chinese big Hospitals from September to November

As the ministry spokesman Mao Qun'an said, in order to control corruption in the health sector and improve efficiency, China's Ministry of Health (MOH) will launch a three-month inspection of six "big hospitals" from September to November. The inspection results will be broadcasted in December 2007 and January 2008.

Government pledge: Control corruption in healthcare industry

The ministry spokesman Mao Qun'an said that to control corruption in the health industry, China's Ministry of Health (MOH) is making a deep inspection of the work of six important hospitals for three months (September to November). The six groups dispatched will focus on "drug purchasing procedures", said Mao. He added the inspection report in December 2007 and January 2008 will divulge the hospitals' names.

Health research is not easy for developing countries

About 125 billion U.S. dollars is being spent each year on health research, but only ten percent of the global health research funding is spent on dealing with health problems in developing nations, which have 90 percent of the world's population. China is trying to increase investment in health care but Chen Zhu, China's Minister of Health, admitted that "China still suffers from wide disparities in allocation of health resources."

The global forum for health research will help invest more in developing countries and try to realize the Millennium Development Goals, said Stephen Matlin, the executive director of the 11th Global Forum for Health research.

Quitting smoking is the most important step to control lung cancer.

350 million smokers, some 600,000 people die each year of lung cancer,about 87 percent of people who die of lung cancer either smoke or suffer passive smoking,which are the real figures for the situation in China.
Next month, the Chinese Anti-Cancer Association with Shanghai Roche Pharmaceuticals is about to launch free consultations in seven cities, including Shanghai, so as to promote knowledge of lung cancer, ways to quit smoking and information on new medicines to treat lung cancer.

Seafood and thyroid cancer CHINANEWS

In China, the incident of thyroid cancer had increased 300% in ten years,said by the Fudan University Affiliated Tumor Hospital. The number of young women who were suffered from thyroid cancer was 2-5 times that of men.The major inducement is seafood.
Young mowen prefer seafood,but most seafood contains a high level of iodine, a substance that will easily induce thyroid disease.

Primary medical care for all

The government will develop health services in both rural and urban communities to assure that it will "provide primary medical care for all" Health Minister Chen Zhu said.. More investment is also being channeled to strengthen disease prevention and control, and expedite the development of health services in both rural and urban communities.

Tongjitang mainstay the TCM for osteoporosis CHINABIOTODAY

The Chinese medicine for osteoporis is mainstayed by Tongjitang Pharmaceuticals and its Xianling Gubao. Indeed, a trial conducted in patients with post-menopausal osteoporosis has demonstrated that Xianling Gubao prevented bone resorption and increased bone density.

Oridonin: target cancer cells safely

Chemical and radiation therapies are the most commonly used treatments for leukemia and other cancers traditionally, but they kill both cancerous cells and healthy cells.

Oridonin, which is a natural diterpeniod extracted from medical herbs, is found to target cancer cells without damaging healthy cells in leukemia treatment in Shanghai. Now, the further research is in progress. .

Osteoporosis: more than 11% of Chinese are suffering

Chinese researchers have done a survey which has revealed that 11% of the 20 years old and more of the Chinese people suffer from osteoporosis. Zhu, a professor of the Shanghai Donghua University, said "we calculated there are about 35 million to 40 million osteoporotic patients nationwide based the survey."

Nearsightedness growing threat to our children

The result from a joint research team of scientists from China, US and Australia shows China has the biggest nearsighted population in the world. 50 to 60 percent of China's youngsters are myopic.
The most important measure to prevent myopia is to protect the eyes of children at an early age. Nearsightedness in children could be caused not only by lack of correct habits but also caused by too much home work and lessons.

Bird flu: further results provided by scientists from Peking University

The Medical Journal Lancet revealed in an article published last month that the bird flu virus can reach the placenta of pregnant women and infect organs in adults. The transmission of H5N1 in Humans has been found by scientists in Beijing.
This group of scientists from Peking University is discovering important results quickly with little funding.

Health of the new generation exposed to smoking issue

The new generation of China is faced to smoking environment. According to China Daily "some 18 million children under 15 are exposed to a smoking environment".
Teenagers are surrounded by smokers, at school, on television, their fathers... And there still are no measures adopted to prevent the sell of cigarettes for teenagers.

AIDS prevalence low in China but in some parts

Drug trafficking and illegal blood donation affects the prevalence of AIDS in several provinces. In China, a total of 214,000 HIV had registered cases by July 30 this year but still many HIV-positive people are not registered. According to the last major survey in 2005 by the Ministry of Health, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and World Health Organization (WHO), the number of people suffering from HIV in China was estimated to be 650,000. The government has launched campaigns to increase public awareness about the diseases, for instance, education on safe sex among youth and setting up condom vending machines

New tendency: health checks during holidays

According to the Shenyang Daily, workers from this city beneficing from national holidays seem more and more involve to their health as they go to hospitals to make health checks.
Apparently, workers are aware that too much stress (due to work) can facilitate to increase deseases.

Beast cancer in HK

The number of women with breast cancer here doubled between 1993 and 2004, the Hong Kong Breast Cancer Foundation (HKBCF) said. The total number of cases rose from 1.152 to 2.273.
Polly Cheung, a surgeon and founder of the HKBCF, said Hong Kong has a high incidence of breast cancer because women there have Western food habits, live modern lifestyles and often delay marriage.
All women aged 40 or above should have a mammogram test at least every two years, Cheung said. To promote breast health awareness, the HKBCF recently launched an education for secondary schoolgirls.

Top five of the infectious diseases in China

As the Chinese Ministry of Health said, in August, the top five infectious diseases, accounting for 86.6 percent of the total, were tuberculosis, hepatitis B, diarrhea, syphilis and gonorrhea. The top five killers were rabies, tuberculosis, AIDS, hepatitis B and encephalitis B, according to the Ministry.