Agnes Saint-Raymond(right), the head of International Affairs and head of Portfolio Board of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), meet a group of Chinese reporters in Amsterdam on Tuesday. Photo: Bai Tiantian/GT

European Union is considering putting China in the "white list" of countries exporting active pharmaceutical substances to Europe by further streamlining the procedures.

"We trust China to import good quality products. This is the process where we would like to waive the need to check every product from China," Agnes Saint-Raymond, the head of International Affairs and head of Portfolio Board of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), said on Tuesday. 

The decision was made during a meeting between a delegation of China's National Medical Products Administration (NMPA), led by NMPA deputy commissioner Chen Shifei, and EMA in late October. 

China is one of the leading countries supplying active pharmaceutical ingredients to the EU, according to EMA. Roughly 80 percent of the pharmaceutical ingredients in Europe were procured from China or India.  

It is not yet known when the decision will be implemented. 

"Beyond the new engagement, we still want more exchange of information from the NMPA," said Saint-Raymond. "We understand that the regulators do not anticipate every risk but it is very important to signal as soon as there is a problem."

Exemplifying the recent outbreak of African swine fever in China, Saint-Raymond explicated it may be affecting the production of heparin, a substance that can be used to treat blood clots or heart attacks. Heparin is often produced from the swine intestines.

"We would like to know what measures are taken by the Chinese regulators to make sure the companies are not using different animals to produce heparin, because that would not be the right product," said Saint-Raymond.
Newspaper headline: EU eyes putting China on 'white list' of nations exporting active drug ingredients