China - compensation for drug and device-related injuries

China must increasingly contend with finding the right way to compensate patients suffering from injuries that may have been related to the use of a drug or device product.Injuries caused by counterfeit and inferior drug and device products have grown in China, and injuries caused by adverse drug or device reactions have also soared. An increasing number of drugs, both imported and domestically developed, are being marketed in China. Some compensation practices exist in China, but they are neither uniformly applied nor subject to legal, regulatory or industry-sponsored guidelines. This article examines the drug/device-related injury compensation regime in China, summarises compensation schemes in other jurisdictions and reaches conclusions about the way forward for the Chinese compensation scheme.