ABSTRACT
The definition of new drugs in China and the US has no major differences on chemical drugs and biologics.However,Chinese medicines,which are regulated as over-the-counter (OTC) or prescription drugs in China,are mostly regulated as food and/or dietary supplements without FDA approved medicinal use for marketing.The FDA Guidance for Industry-Botanical Drug Products (2004) and the recently revised Guidance for Botanical Drug Development (2016) paved the way for Chinese herbal medicine and other botanical mixtures to be further developed as new drugs through clinical trials and other nonclinical studies.FDA recognizes the value of traditional medicines as part of the previous human experiences to support the safety and speed up early phase clinical trials of botanical products under investigational new drug (INDs) applications.The revised Guidance included addition recommendations for late phase development,like phase 2 trials and new drug applications (NDA),to resolve some of the unique challenges on batch-tobatch consistency (e.g.,a totality of evidence approach,including raw material control,bioassays,multiple-batch and multiple-dose clinical trials,and etc.).The approval of Veregen and Fulyzaq (now Mytesi) are new molecular entity / new chemical entity type of new drugs,treasured fruits from several hundred INDs studying botanicals.With those NDA examples,it is expected that further study of Chinese herbal medicines as new botanical drugs through further clinical and nonclinical development will be fruitful.On the other hand,long-term commitments are universal for new drug development.And it will also be true for bringing Chinese herbal medicines as botanical new drugs to international markets.It still takes time to see whether artesunate tablets can be verified through further clinical trials and achieve the same level of Coartem.