Progress has been made in China's medical science and technology innovation in the past ten years, with a number of scientific and technological achievements having emerged, officials of China's National Health Commission (NHC) said at a press conference on Thursday.

According to the health regulator, it has led and organized two major national science and technology projects, namely, the development of new drugs and the prevention and control of infectious diseases since 2008. 

A total of 80 new drugs were approved for marketing, 16 times the number before the two projects started, said Liu Dengfeng, an official of the Department of Health Science, Technology and Education at NHC. All of the drugs are globally new innovative ones that have not been approved and marketed anywhere else worldwide. 

China has established 50 national clinical medical research centers in 20 fields, which are related to common illnesses.

In addition, 75 state key laboratories in the field of biomedicine have been established. Five national facilities for translational medicine, which is used to transform basic research results into clinical application, has been established, according to Liu.

The health regulator said, China's actions since the COVID-19 outbreak in identifying pathogens, conducting origin tracing and carrying out research and development of vaccines and drugs, were relying on the medical talents and technology platforms it has accumulated over the years.

The number of physicians in China hit 4.28 million at the end of 2021, with the number of 3.04 physicians per thousand population. It is close to the standard of developed countries, Liu added.