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 Medical Device Product Working Group of the ASEAN Consultative Committee for Standards and Quality (ACCSQ-MDPWG) held a meeting from July 30 to August 2, 2007. In this meeting, the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries discussed proposals for conformity assessment... Read More
Malaysia’s Ministry of Health (MOH) has been working for several years on gradually establishing a medical device registration system. In February 2005, they announced the Medical Device Voluntary Establishment Registration program, abbreviated MeDVER. Implemented in January 2006, this is a system where... Read More
The Medical Device Product Working Group of the ASEAN Consultative Committee for Standards and Quality held a meeting from July 30 to August 2, 2007 to discus various topics and strategies to increase harmonization of medical device regulations across the ASEAN countries.... Read More
Despite numerous rounds, the US and Malaysia continue to have ongoing negotiations over the regulations of drugs and patents under a future Free Trade Agreement. The deadline for fast-track approval has passed, and resolutions to patents and generics regulations are not forthcoming.... 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 World Health Organization (WHO) and various international partners came together in Germany November 2006 to develop a task force focused on preventing the global spread of counterfeit medicines. The International Medical Products Anti-Counterfeiting Taskforce, or IMPACT would cover legal, technological, communications... 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
Counterfeit drugs are a big problem in Asia. Somewhat lax enforcement of drug patents and the high cost of brand name drugs have generated huge demand for (and supply of) cheap imitation drugs. In some Asian countries, up to one-half of available... Read More