Secretary for Health Prof Lo Chung-mau today chaired the second meeting of the Steering Committee on Health & Medical Innovation Development.

Apart from discussing the development direction and policy initiatives for driving medical innovation in Hong Kong, the committee offered advice on the establishment of the Centre for Medical Products Regulation (CMPR) and the development of the Greater Bay Area International Clinical Trial Institute (GBAICTI).

      ​

Since its establishment in June last year, the preparatory office for the CMPR has been taking forward a number of measures, including reviewing the regulatory work of drugs and medical devices in other regions to formulate a regulatory framework of drugs and medical devices suitable for Hong Kong, assessing the need for legislation, restructuring the existing regulatory functions and service plans for drugs and medical devices, and proposing the timetable for the CMPR’s establishment and the roadmap towards the "primary evaluation" in the first half of this year.

Furthermore, the GBAICTI will take forward a number of key tasks this year, including process optimisation, establishing a one-stop Hong Kong clinical trial digital portal, strengthening collaboration within the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and planning for its move into one of the wet laboratory-enabled buildings at the soon-to-be-completed Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation & Technology Park.

Prof Lo said at the meeting that the steering committee recognised the Government’s efforts in health and medical innovation and offered advice on the way forward.

“The Health Bureau will actively follow up, and make every effort to take forward and implement the measures on expediting the reform of the approval mechanism for drugs and medical devices and enhancing Hong Kong's clinical trial capability as set out in the 2024 Policy Address by complementing technological innovation with institutional innovation.”

He added that the bureau will also collaborate with Shenzhen to establish the GBA Clinical Trial Collaboration Platform to extend the research and development network and expedite clinical trials; and establish the Real-World Study & Application Centre to leverage Hong Kong's vast and standardised high-quality medical databases to accelerate its development into an international health and medical innovation hub.