There is a critical shortage of medication for children in China, and doctors have little choice but to administer drugs meant for adults on children, in spite of the fact that the country has more than 6,000 drug companies. 

During this year's Two Sessions, legislators and political advisors are calling for more efforts to tackle the issue. ‍

There are only about 60 approved kinds of drugs suitable for the 220 million children in China. A government report says children’s medication makes up less than 2% of all approved medication in China. 

It’s a concern for Ding Jie, deputy head of Peking University First Hospital, also a Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) member. She said the shortage is indeed very serious, especially for children under three years old. Doctors always have to give them drugs meant for adults, such as physically cutting pills for them to take. 

“Furthermore, many drugs have descriptions which say they haven't been tested on children. So we have to ask parents to sign a consent form saying they understand the risks." 

Yabao Pharmaceuticals began developing children's medication in the 1990's.This was a decision made by the board's chairman, Ren Wuxian, who is also a deputy of the National People's Congress. He said children's medication will be their strategic focus. 

The company spends 30% of its research funds on developing children's drugs, both traditional Chinese medicine and conventional medicine. But the firm confirms that children's medicine is not a lucrative market.

Among the six thousand or so pharmaceutical companies in China, only about a dozen specialize in children's medication. Meanwhile, about 30 others, including this one, make it a part of their business operations. 

Ren explains why companies are wary of the children’s medication market. 

"It's difficult to develop children's medication. The difficulty lies in the clinical tests. Especially in China, there are many patients, but parents don't want their children to test drugs. Furthermore, children's drugs are cheap and not very profitable, so companies don't want to spend much effort developing or producing. One of our traditional Chinese medications for children took us 10 years of research and five years of tests to develop." 

Last June, the government encouraged pharmaceutical companies to develop a specific set of drugs. But Ding Jie says more incentives should be offered, like faster approval, compensation or tax cuts.

Yabao Pharmaceuticals said it will develop the medication that China urgently needs for clinical use. But Ren says clinical trials will be very challenging and difficult, as it will involve babies under 12 months.