China takes eight years longer on average to approve drugs than other major countries, and U.S. drugmakers are looking at ways to help speed things up, Eli Lilly & Co. Chief Executive Officer John Lechleiter said Wednesday.
“This is a drug lag that I hope we are able to close in the coming years, by working with Chinese authorities to speed up the process of doing clinical trials in China,” Lechleiter said in Beijing. The executive is spending the week in China to meet with officials as chairman of the industry group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. Lilly aims to conduct late-stage tests in China for the experimental diabetes drug dulaglutide, according to Lechleiter.
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