CHINA REPORTS STEEP RISE IN ADVERSE DRUG REACTIONS

China's National Centre for Adverse Drug Reaction (ADR) Monitoring has announced that it received a total of 36,377 ADR case reports in the first six months of 2005. This represents a significant increase from the same period last year and is higher than the entire caseload for 2003.

Of the ADR case reports, 2.9% came from production and operation enterprises, 4.6% were new and serious cases, and 97.1% came from medical institutions. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 30% of reports in a mature drug appraisal centre should be new and serious cases.

In a country such as the U.S., roughly 90% of cases are reported by drug producers, compared to less than 3% in China. This is testimony to the importance of the hospital sector as the main access point to healthcare in China, as well as the country's underdeveloped monitoring infrastructure.

Sources claim ADR reports have increased as more Chinese consumers become aware of potentially dangerous side-effects. Meanwhile, the rise could be due to the government's recent decision to revise its monitoring practices. Currently, there are less than 100 ADR reports per million people in the country. This compares with an average of 200-400 per million in developed countries.