Despite being the most populous nation in the world, China has not focused on rare diseases until recently. But fueled by encouraging regulatory policy changes, the speed of the effort to catch up with the rest of the world has been rapid. Two top medical experts recently published the country's first-ever report devoted to rare diseases, which paints the big picture for the diagnosis and treatment of these conditions in the country.
The report, based on data collected from top-tier 3A hospitals over five years, found that there are 1,423 defined rare diseases in China, noted Ding Jie, one of lead authors...