FDA offices in China Ready To Open Doors.

We reported about the FDA's inspection units potential move to China in March 14th;

FDA offices in China. Now the mass media is also getting the story with interviews etc. Here is an excerpt from Wall Street Journal.

SINGAPORE -- U.S. food and drug regulators will start working in China next month once Beijing gives its final approval, the top U.S. health official said Tuesday.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is planning to open an office in China as part of a change in strategy following product safety problems in Chinese imports that prompted several health scares and have been linked to some deaths.

"In the past, the United States and many other countries have employed a strategy of standing at the border trying to catch things that aren't safe," Mr. Leavitt said in an Associated Press interview during a visit to Singapore. However, he said it is impossible to inspect all of the massive amounts of goods that enter the country.

"So we're changing our strategy from one of trying to catch unsafe products to building safety into the products," Mr. Leavitt said. "Our purpose is not just inspection, it's building capacity and maintaining relationships between regulators."

The FDA's China office will be headed by Christopher Hickey, currently director of the Asia and the Pacific office at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Mr. Leavitt said. Mr. Hickey, who was with Mr. Leavitt in Singapore, said Washington is still awaiting final approval from the Chinese government on the opening of the U.S. FDA's office there, but that the agency expected to begin work in May before the official opening of the office in October.

tag: FDA, FDA Regulations, FDA in China