Suggestions on Improving China’s Breakthrough Therapy Designation System

Abstract

Objective To analyze the characteristics of breakthrough therapy designation (BTD) and its implementation in China, and to provide reference for the optimization of BTD system. Methods A comparative research method was used to study the content and implementation effect of BTD system in China and the relevant policies and implementation of the same procedures of drug regulatory authorities in the United States, Japan and the European Union. Then, the differences in policies and implementation results among these countries were analyzed to provide suggestions for the implementation and optimization of this system in China. Results and Conclusion China’s BTD system is implemented late and a small number of drugs has been approved. At the same time, there are problems such as insufficient guidance and communication from the agency to applicants, a broad application condition, single review mode, and lack of full-time personnel. Both the agencies and the applicants have limited experience due to the short implementation time of BTD system in China. There are still some problems despite we have learned a lot from the experience of other drug regulatory agencies. Therefore, based on our national conditions, we should strengthen the guidance of evaluation agency to applicants, optimize the eligibility criteria of BTD system, introduce the rolling review, and increase the number of professional liaisons, which can accelerate the development and marketing process of drugs with obvious clinical value, and finally to address unmet medical need.

Keywords

breakthrough therapy designation (BTD) / expedited program / system optimization

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