HA looks to make it easier to add new medicines
The Hospital Authority (HA) said it is seeking to streamline the process for adding new drugs to its registry, with a view to cut half the time needed to obtain the medicines. Currently, drug companies write to clinical doctors directly in the application, and it takes around 10 months before a drug could be added to the HA's formulary. The authority’s cluster services director, Simon Tang, said officials are trying to cut the red tape by having companies write to its headquarters, saving front-line doctors time and effort. He said patient groups and public doctors are among stakeholders officials will speak to, saying he hopes they can work out a proposal in the coming months. "We need to get our colleagues involved, and of course, another key stakeholder would be the pharmaceutical companies," Tang told reporters. "Through the streamlining, we're confident that the introduction of new drugs to the HA drug formulary can be shortened by half." In November last year, the government introduced a new mechanism called "1+" for new drug registrations, for products treating severe diseases that are backed by local clinical data. A new drug can now be registered in the SAR if just one drug regulatory authority in the world has approved it, rather than the previous two authorities, before local experts and regulators approve it. Tang said the HA had so far asked drug companies to try to register two drugs for treating cancer through the new mechanism, and said he understood that the government itself had received around 100 enquiries on the matter. He added that if the safety-proving clinical data for the new product is from the mainland or Hong Kong that could better ensure its effectiveness, because sometimes drugs approved in other continents may not have similar effects or side-effects for Asians.  The doctor noted that mainland drug regulators were one of four authorities added to the list of regulatory bodies in recent years.