On Nov 2, Huang Guo, Commissioner of China's National Medical Products Administration (NMPA), met in Beijing with a delegation led by Hiiti Sillo, acting director of the Regulation and Prequalification Department of the World Health Organization (WHO), and Martin Taylor, WHO representative to China. The two sides held in-depth discussions on cooperation in the WHO Listed Authority (WLA) assessment, regulatory capacity building and personnel exchanges.

Huang noted that China's NMPA has continuously advanced regulatory reform, giving strong impetus to the high-quality development of the country's pharmaceutical industry. He emphasized that the NMPA attaches great importance to the WLA assessment for vaccines, through which it aims to further improve the vaccine regulatory system and enhance the performance of whole-life-cycle vaccine regulation.

Sillo highly commended China's achievements in continuously strengthening its regulatory system. He said that since China’s NMPA launched the application for the WLA assessment for vaccines, the two sides have worked closely together and made smooth progress, adding that the WHO is willing to work with the NMPA to advance the assessment. Taylor stated that the WHO places its cooperation with China's NMPA as a strategic priority. The two sides agreed to deepen personnel exchanges and expand cooperation in relevant fields.

Officials from relevant departments and affiliated institutions of the NMPA were present. Following the meeting, the two sides held a working session to exchange views on the WLA assessment and reached agreement on follow-up arrangements.