GAITHERSBURG, MD - Sept. 7, 2017 - Bo Li, Director General Director of the CFDA's National Institute for Food and Drug Control (NIFDC) and Erin Hill, President of US based non-profit, Institute for In Vitro Sciences, Inc. (IIVS), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to bring non-animal test methods to China for the regulation of cosmetics and ingredients. The move re-affirms and expands a three-year partnership between the NIFDC and IIVS.
Currently China has mandatory animal testing for many products, including special use and imported cosmetics. Wishing to modernize their regulations, CFDA has developed a plan to build capacity and proficiency within its government laboratories - key steps that the CFDA has stated must be achieved before regulations can be changed to incorporate non-animal tests for regulatory decision making. To date IIVS has helped NIFDC implement its plan by providing hands-on training, data interpretation workshops and other key elements to national and provincial government laboratories both in China and at its laboratory in the US. In November of 2016 the CFDA officially recognized the first non-animal test for cosmetics.
Under the new MOU, IIVS will continue to provide training, however, the two groups will now work together on other projects such as workshops with provincial IFDC leaders, many of whom are cosmetic safety reviewers, in an effort to build confidence in the new methods and thus accelerate their acceptance into the Chinese regulatory system.
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About the Institute for In Vitro Sciences (IIVS)
IIVS is a non-profit organization wholly dedicated to the promotion of rapid and innovative non-animal test methods. Founded in 1997, IIVS is recognized as a leading provider of in vitro testing in support of toxicological safety evaluations. Rigorous scientific programs coupled with educational and outreach initiatives have established IIVS as a global leader in the advancement of alternatives to animal testing. For more information, visit us at http://www.iivs.org.
About the National Institute for Food and Drug Control (NIFDC)
NIFDC areas of responsibility cover quality control of pharmaceutical products, biological products, medical devices, food, healthy food, cosmetics, reference standards, laboratory animals, and drug safety evaluation. The Institute for Food and Cosmetics Control (IFCC), an internal institute of NIFDC, is responsible for safety evaluations of food, healthy food and cosmetics.