Hangzhou, the capital city of Zhejiang Province, will soon launch an online information system to help supervise the production process of 17 pharmaceutical companies in the city to guarantee drug quality, Zhejiang Food and Drug Administration announced on Nov. 9.

According to the announcement, pharmaceutical manufacturers with high risk products are required to designate a full-time employee to collect information on changes in its raw materials and pharmaceutical excipients, as well as keep records on the production process, inspections and sales.

This information will then be input into the system. High risk products include drugs in injection form, blood products, vaccines, narcotics and anti-psychotics.

"Manufacturers need to send us key parameters of the production process, such as differential pressure and water temperature," an official, surnamed Cai, from the Hangzhou Food and Drug Administration told Interfax on Nov. 10.

The system will be launched on Dec. 1 this year, according to the announcement. The system is designed to help companies improve drug production management to reduce risks and help local drug administrations discover any problems as soon as possible.

The 17 manufacturers with high risk products required to use the system, include Hangzhou Minsheng Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd., Chia Tai Qingchunbao Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., and Zhejiang Tianyuan Bio- pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.

In September this year, Jinan Food and Drug Administration in Shandong Province started to use a video system to supervise production processes of its pharmaceutical companies in the city.

"We are examining whether the installation of video cameras will affect the production process of manufacturers, and if it is possible we will use a video system in future," Cai said.

Source: Interfax