Huang Guo, commissioner of the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA), met in Beijing on May 11 with a delegation led by Raymond Chua Swee Boon, chief executive officer of the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) of Singapore. The two sides signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Regulatory Cooperation between China's NMPA and Singapore's HSA.

Huang briefed the delegation on recent progress in China's drug regulatory reform, emphasizing the commitment to further advancing scientific, law-based, internationally aligned and modernized development. He said that the NMPA will place greater emphasis on improving top-level design, refining the regulatory framework, enhancing the quality and efficiency of review processes and enlarging opening-up, so as to advance high-quality development and facilitate the "bringing in" and "going global" initiatives of the Chinese pharmaceutical industry.

Chua commended the achievements of China's drug regulatory reforms. He also introduced the HSA's international cooperation initiatives and innovative models for supporting industry growth.

The two sides had in-depth discussions on key topics such as the regulation of cell and gene therapies, innovative medical products and artificial intelligence-based products. They agreed to leverage the signing of the MoU as a milestone to strengthen cooperation mechanisms, refine timelines and roadmaps, enhance information sharing, promote collaborative review processes and facilitate technical exchanges. This would promote regulatory mutual trust, improve quality and efficiency, jointly promote regulatory development in both countries and the region and safeguard public health, they added.

Officials from relevant departments of the NMPA were also present.