Zheng Xiaoyu, head of the State Drug Administration, said the country was producing 21 sorts of genetically-engineered drugs and vaccines, including eight of the 10 best-selling products.

He told a seminar in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province in east China, that a sizable genetically-engineered pharmaceutical industry had emerged in China, as an increasing number of research findings were turned into industrial products.

China's man-made blood products would soon be applied to clinical use, while its body cell cloning technology and genetic diagnosis of hereditary disease technology were both among the most advanced in the world, he said.

China had also begun researches into the clinical application of genetic technology in the treatment of cancer, hemophilia and four other kinds of diseases.

Despite some gratifying achievements, Zheng acknowledged that a number of chronic problems still hampered China's biomedical industry, including an inadequate research and development investment and the lack of a system that encouraged industrialization of research findings.

Meanwhile, Zheng called for a new mechanism to encourage investment from government departments, banks, the stock market, overseas investment funds and the venture capital market.

(Xinhua News Agency October 29, 2002)