China’s National Health Commission has just released a new set of regulations to evaluate the clinical value of both approved drugs and those still in trials as part of its efforts to improve the market standards.

A new regulatory agreement could give Indonesia greater access to newer drugs and Chinese companies greater market share in Southeast Asia’s largest market.

China’s most important annual government meetings, known as the “Two Sessions,” kicked off March 4 and biopharma executives that were also delegates to the National People's Congress (NPC) suggested that approval for trials should be stricter to avoid repetitive R&D and called for innovative drugs to get into the state insurance list – and to patients – faster.