Managing Asian cultural and business diversity can be very complex for Western companies. Each country has its own culture, history, ideology, language and philosophy: a strategy in Taiwan may not work in China, and vice versa. Understanding the local mentality, beliefs, and... Read More
The Medical Device Control Office (MDCO) of Hong Kong recently posted supplementary notes on registering medical devices under the Medical Device Administrative Control System (MDACS). As discussed in Volume 6, Number 8 of the Asian Medical eNewsletter, Hong Kong implemented a voluntary... Read More
The Asian Harmonization Working Party (AHWP) has finalized two documents on the Safety Alert Dissemination System (SADS) on January 23, 2008. The main goals of SADS are the following: To define a structure for disseminating medical device safety alerts among AHWP members;... Read More
When medical companies think of bringing their products to the Asian markets, they typically think of larger countries like China, Japan, or Korea first. However, other smaller Asian countries such as Singapore and Malaysia can be worthwhile destinations as well. Although they... Read More
The Asian Harmonization Working Party (AHWP) had its last meeting on October 26 and 27 in Chengdu, China, where it discussed schedules and plans for the Common Submission Dossier Template (CSDT), Post-market Alert Systems (PMAS) and other tasks. For CSDT and PMAS,... Read More
The Asian Harmonization Working Party (AHWP) has recently drafted a post-marketing system to harmonize medical device adverse event reporting. AHWP members have varied systems for adverse event reporting, and some have no system at all. The new draft document aims at reducing... Read More
The Medical Device Control Office (MDCO) under the Department of Health has proposed guidelines on medical device importer listings March 30, 2007. Currently, this listing of importers would be voluntary. Importers can apply for official listing, whether or not they import medical... Read More
With steadily increasing drug development costs and significant time spent on clinical trials, outsourcing clinical trials in Asia has rapidly become an appealing option for many firms. As developing a single drug can cost more than $200 million and take at least... Read More
The Medical Device Control Office of Hong Kong (MDCO) has proposed listing local manufacturers of medical devices under the Medical Device Administrative Control System (MDACS). The main requirement to be listed will be for manufacturers to implement and maintain a quality management... Read More
The Asian Harmonization Working Party (AHWP) has recently drafted a “Common Submission Dossier Template” (CSDT). If adopted, this would allow medical device companies to use one common form when submitting to any of the 13 countries in the AHWP. By adopting this... Read More