April 2022 saw a number of foreign and licensed drugs approved in China, with the majority of them in oncology and rheumatology.
The month of March saw a string of approvals handed out by the NMPA, with the most significant being two domestically developed anti-PD-1 inhibitors getting green lighted to treat MSI-H/dMMR solid tumors in China for the first time ever.
Chinese regulators approved 11 drugs in February. Uses and indications ran a wide gamut, including two drugs for atopic dermatitis and six new molecular entities that were approved for the first time.
January 2022 saw 11 drugs get approval by Chinese drug regulators. JAK inhibitors started the year with momentum, with Eli Lilly's Olumiant, Pfizer's Xeljanz, and AbbVie's Rinvoq filing marketing applications for new indications.
Chinese drug regulators are approving more new drugs and more of them are developed by local players.
The NMPA’s run of speedy approvals continued in the last month of 2021 as Chinese regulators granted the first marketing approvals to 16 new drugs and accepted NDAs for 11 more new ones.
Chinese regulators approved six new drugs in November, including the homegrown subcutaneous PD-L1 antibody KN035 (envafolimab) and third-generation BCR-ABL inhibitor HQP135 (olverembatinib).
Chinese regulators approved three new molecular entities (NME) in October, including two innovative diabetes drugs.