China to expand medical payment reform

 Updated: 2012-05-16 09:13    (Xinhua)    BEIJING - China plans to expand medical payment reforms to ensure that new payment systems will be implemented throughout the country's rural areas by 2015, Minister of Health Chen Zhu announced on Tuesday.   Chen said during a video conference that the payment systems will help control medical costs, as they will result in the scrapping of the fee-for-service system and cap patients' total medical expenditures.   The current fee-for-service system is believed to have encouraged an excessive number of prescriptions and unnecessary medical examinations.   Medical payment reforms will create a portfolio of payment models, including payment based on diagnosis-related groups (DRGs), per diem payment for inpatient care and a pre-pay system for outpatient care.   In 2009, the Chinese government kicked off a new round of health care reforms, aiming to provide universal and affordable medical services to the country's 1.3 billion people. 

Fujian, Taiwan 'complementary' in economy

 Updated: 2012-05-19 10:04    By Tan Zongyang and Hu Meidong in Fuzhou (China Daily)     The economies of Fujian province and Taiwan are complementary, and gains from increasing trade across the Taiwan Straits can benefit both sides amid the ongoing global economic downturn, Nobel Prize-winning Canadian economist Robert Mundell said at a forum in Fuzhou, capital of East China's Fujian province, on Friday.   Taiwan's technology and foreign investment is a great plus for the development of Fujian, which has a larger supply of cheap labor that attracts investment from the island, Mundell said.   He also compared the development of the coastal province, which views Taiwan to the east across the sea, to the success story of economic cooperation between Guangdong province and Hong Kong.   The forum, a sideline event of the 14th Cross-Straits Fair for Economy and Trade in Fuzhou, was designated this year to discuss how to develop the west side of the Taiwan Straits as an open and vigorous economy, distinct from the development path of the Yangtze and Pearl river deltas, which achieved economic success during the past three decades of China's reform and opening-up.   Fujian, the province on the west side of the Taiwan Straits, aims to open up and attract investment from the island.   Statistics show that as of the end of March, the province had more than 3,800 Taiwan-funded enterprises, with a total investment of $9.7 billion.   In the first quarter of this year, more than 60 new enterprises from Taiwan were established in the province.   Starting this year, the provincial government will allocate 10 million yuan ($1.6 million) each year to promote the development of Taiwan-funded enterprises, according to a Xinhua News Agency report on Thursday.   The fund will be used to support the construction of facilities and infrastructure in both State-level and provincial-level Taiwan investment zones in the province, and to subsidize the work of attracting investment from Taiwan.   The fund will also be used to reward local Taiwan-funded enterprises that have produced innovative goods and services.   Fuzhou, capital of the province, should spearhead the development of the region as a business hub that is open for foreign trade, Mayor Yang Yimin said at the forum.   Last year, the import-export trade value of Fuzhou surpassed $35 billion, up 41 percent year-on-year, according to Yang. The growth rate was almost double the average for the nation.   Chen Dongqi, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission's macroeconomic research institute, said the capital city of the province should serve as a pioneer in boosting cross-Straits trade and exchanges.   On Friday, an inauguration ceremony was held in Fuzhou to mark the establishment of an administration office in the city, which issues certificate of origins to the Chinese mainland goods and commodities for tax breaks when exported to Taiwan.   The office is the first of its kind on the mainland established by the General Administration of Customs, and its presence is a new step forward to boost trade with Taiwan, the administration said in a statement on Friday.

China to fix copyright law draft amendment

  Updated: 2012-05-19 11:07    (Xinhua)   BEIJING - The National Copyright Administration (NCA) will revise a draft amendment to China's copyright law that has stirred controversy since being circulated to seek public opinion, according to a Friday announcement by the NCA.   The NCA has received 1,560 comments concerning 81 articles in the draft amendment since it was published on March 31, according to the administration.   The NCA will therefore revise the draft amendment based on the public's suggestions, as well as those from a committee of experts, and publish the revised version to seek more opinions before the end of this month, an NCA official said.   The draft amendment has triggered heated discussion among members of the public. It has also drawn wide attention from trade organizations and businesses from the United States, the European Union, Britain and Japan, as well as from Hong Kong and Taiwan.   Public feedback has mostly concerned statutory licensing, collective management of copyrights, the review obligations of network service providers, legal liability for non-exclusive license users, compensation for damages and the registration of copyrights.   Chinese music composers have expressed anger regarding the draft amendment, as they believe it will diminish their professional rights if passed.   Article 46 of the document stipulates that music producers may use a musical work from another recorded product, as long as it has already been published for more than three months, in their own productions without having to obtain consent from the copyright holder. The article says producers must report the use to relevant government authorities and fairly compensate the original artist.   The draft says that if the copyright holder does not state otherwise, royalties for such use will be collected through collective copyright management organizations.   Composers have complained that the draft may deprive them of their copyright interests.   Industry insiders have also expressed concerns that the provisions will make record companies less willing to invest in record promotion.   However, some legal experts have suggested that the composers have misunderstood the draft and are overreacting.   The copyright law amendment comes at a time when authorities are making more efforts to crack down on copyright infringement, including online piracy, as the country has seen an increase of cases related to intellectual property rights (IPR) protection.   In 2011, courts at all levels nationwide handled 59,612 new IPR-related civil cases and concluded trials for 58,201 cases, up by 38.86 percent and 39.51 percent, respectively, from the previous year, the Supreme People's Court (SPC) spokesman Sun Jungong said at a press conference in April.   Moreover, local courts received 5,707 new criminal cases involving IPR issues, an increase of 42.96 percent year on year, Sun said.   According to an online poll conducted by the China Youth Daily, 92.7 percent of 17,576 respondents admitted that they had bought or used pirated goods themselves.   A total of 65.9 percent of respondents said poor copyright protection may undermine authors' ability to innovate, while 64.2 percent said it could impair the country's cultural innovation. 

China releases IPR protection agenda

 Updated: 2012-05-19 11:13    (Xinhua)     BEIJING - The General Office of the State Council on Friday released a work agenda concerning the protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) and a crackdown on the production and sale of counterfeit goods.   The agenda mentions campaigns to be carried out to ensure protection for trademark rights, copyrights, patent rights and online shopping sites, as well as efforts to fight the counterfeiting of cosmetics, medicine, agricultural production materials and vehicle components.   Efforts will also be made to crack down on the infringement of proprietary information, the agenda said. 

Amgen pushes agenda for biosimilars on the FDA

May 11, 2012 | By Ryan McBride    Amgen ($AMGN) has some concerns as the U.S. progresses toward a regulatory pathway for biosimilars development. As one of the largest biotech drugmakers, the company plans to advise the FDA today to adopt standards to guard the safety, supply chain and understanding of the copycat biologics.   The Thousand Oaks, CA-base drugmaker is one of 30 organizations on the docket today for the FDA's informal stakeholder meeting to discuss regulation of biosimilars. Dr. Joseph Miletich, Amgen's senior vice president of R&D, plans to speak on behalf of his company, which is a major player in the biosimilars game. Besides the company's tie-up with Watson to advance cancer biosimilars, Amgen faces competition from knockoff versions of its biologics.   In a release this morning, Amgen revealed that Miletich plans to push for the agency to adopt rules which would put tracking systems in place and distinguish biosimilars from the originals, make clear to doctors and others that biosimilars aren't substitutes for the real thing unless the FDA deems them interchangeable, and keep high quality standards for production of biosimilar products. Amgen clearly has an interest in protecting the company's franchise of biotech drugs such as Enbrel, Epogen and Aranesp. The company's deal with Watson excludes development of biosimilar versions of Amgen drugs. Yet there are literally hundreds of companies chomping at the bit to develop copycat version of biologics, if not in the U.S., than in emerging markets. And many have already debuted biosimilar products.    Biogen Idec ($BIIB), Novartis ($NVS) and other large drugmakers are also investing in biosimilars but have an interest in safeguarding their intellectual property for biologics. Biosimilars are much larger and complex molecules than small-molecule generics, and there are major challenges to developing a copycat version of a biologic with the same properties and risk/benefit profile as the original.   "The biosimilar approval pathway is a new initiative in the U.S. with many scientific and administrative challenges and nuances," Miletich said in a statement. "It will be essential for FDA to clearly communicate to all stakeholders what biosimilar products are and are not."