The US Food and Drug Administration may soon be able to add some 10 members to its inspection team in China, Pharmalot reports. The agency currently has one inspector based there as others became tangled up in visa snarls. Pharmalot's Ed Silverman notes that other inspectors have been working in China, though on a short-term basis
UPI notes that the agreement came about as part of US Vice President Joe Biden's trip to the region.
"China today agreed to increase the number — increase the visas supplied for these inspectors, and we'll reach agreement in January 2014 on how that will be operationalized," a senior US administration official tells UPI. "But I know that the FDA will be very pleased."