Editorial | Hong Kong drug trials institute a healthy step forward
City closes in on fulfilling its ambition to be medical hub with its own approval authority for drugs and vaccines at cross-border tech zone
Hong Kong has long been aware of its potential to be a widely recognised medical hub, largely on the strength of an internationally respected healthcare system. But the focus, rightly, has remained on a local population heavily dependent on a public health sector.
Medical tourism has never really got off the ground.
Meanwhile, the city has remained dependent on overseas testing regimes for assurance of the safety and efficacy of new drugs and vaccines before approval by regulators. A recent reminder of that was the wait for overseas development, clinical trials and approval and supply of vaccines for Covid-19 in global demand.
Now drug and vaccine approvals will soon be a two-way street. Hong Kong has taken a big step towards fulfilling its ambition to be a medical hub with its own drug approval authority by opening its first clinical trial institute, located in a cross-border tech zone.
The institute already knows its first test is likely to be on an HIV vaccine.
