The Food & Health Bureau today welcomed the Work Plan for Regulatory Innovation & Development of Pharmaceutical & Medical Device in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

It said the new measure, promulgated by the central government in November, would facilitate Hong Kong residents to seek suitable healthcare services in the Greater Bay Area, attract medical and pharmaceutical enterprises to expand businesses in the bay area’s Mainland cities, and further promote Chinese medicine development, bringing mutual benefits to both places.

The measure allows designated healthcare institutions operating in the nine Mainland cities of the bay area to use Hong Kong-registered drugs with urgent clinical use, and medical devices used in Hong Kong public hospitals with urgent clinical use and advanced clinical applications, subject to the approval of Guangdong Province.

The National Medical Products Administration also entrusted the Guangdong Provincial Medical Products Administration to commence the relevant work in relation to simplifying the registration process for importing proprietary Chinese medicines for external use registered in Hong Kong.

Secretary for Food & Health Prof Sophia Chan thanked the central government for launching the measure.

"I believe the above measure will not only help attract local and multinational pharmaceutical, biomedical and health technology companies to apply for registration of new pharmaceutical products in Hong Kong, but also improve the level of healthcare services in the Greater Bay Area."

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has already kick-started preparatory work with the relevant Mainland authorities and will discuss the implementation details with them.