National Medical Products Administration

The National Medical Products Administration (NMPA; 国家药品监督管理局) is a national bureau responsible for drug supervision under the State Council of China and is managed by the State Administration for Market Regulation.

The agency had multiple former names, including China Food and Drug Administration and State Food and Drug Administration.

The National Medical Products Administration was founded on the basis of the former State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA). In March 2013, the former regulatory body was rebranded and restructured as the China Food and Drug Administration, elevating it to a ministerial-level agency. In 2018, as part of China's 2018 government administration overhaul, the name was changed to 'National Medical Products Administration' and merged into the newly created State Administration for Market Regulation. The headquarters are in Xicheng, Beijing.

In its first incarnation as the CFDA, the NMPA replaced a large group of overlapping regulators with an entity similar to the Food and Drug Administration of the United States, streamlining regulation processes for food and drug safety. The National Medical Products Administration is directly under the State Council of the People's Republic of China, which is in charge of comprehensive supervision on the safety management of food, health food and cosmetics and is the competent authority of drug regulation in mainland China.

On 10 July 2007, Zheng Xiaoyu, the former head of China's State Food And Drug Administration, was executed for taking bribes from various firms in exchange for state licences related to product safety.

The National Medical Products Administration has regulatory authority over drugs, medical devices, cosmetics, and certain aspects of food safety. Its responsibilities include:

The NMPA also undertakes other tasks assigned by the State Council and the Food Safety Commission of the State Council.

Between 2001 and 2016, only about 100 new drugs were approved in China, roughly one-third of the number approved in most Western countries. Since then, approval times have been reduced from six or seven years to two or three years, and data from overseas clinical trials is now accepted.