BEIJING -- China's National Medical Products Administration on Saturday announced that it has approved the market entry of 21 medicines for children this year, with about a third being prioritized for accelerated entry.

In recent years, the administration has stepped up its policy support for the research and development (R&D), approval and production of medicines for children, resulting in market entry approvals for an increasing number of drugs.

Statistics show that since 2019, the administration has approved 271 medicines for children.

It has pledged to implement greater preferential policies to facilitate the review and approval of medicines for children, and to intensify the protection of related intellectual property rights.

It has also pledged efforts to provide more technological guidance to R&D companies, ensuring special requirements such as safety and suitability for children are taken into full consideration in R&D processes.