(FDA) An agency of the US federal government established by Congress in 1912 and presently part of the US Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA gives classifications of medical devices according to potential risks and controls the safety of marketed drugs.
For more details please visit the FDA's 'Our Mission and Mandate'.

See also Class I II III Devices and Phase 1 2 3 4 Drug Trials.

(SFDA) The State Food and Drug Administration of the People's Republic of China was founded in November 2003 and is directly under the State Council. The State Food and Drug Administration is in charge of comprehensive supervision on the safety management of food, health food and cosmetics and is the competent authority of drug regulation. For drug or medical device registration please see the SFDA's Regulatory Guide.
The agency is China's equivalent of the US Food and Drug Administration.

The administrative dose guidelines are the predetermined value of radiation dose to workers, below the dose limit (administrative level), which triggers a specific course of action when the dose value is exceeded, or is expected to be exceeded.

See also Medical Internal Radiation Dose Committee, Food and Drug Administration, Material Safety Data Sheet, Annual Dose Limit, Air Kerma, Supervised Area and Drug Development and Approval Process USA.

Classification by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of medical devices according to potential risks or hazards.

Different stages of the drug development and approval process in the USA, lead from preclinical trials (testing in animals), first application in humans through limited and broad clinical tests, to postmarketing studies.

	Years	Test Population	Purpose	Success Rate
Preclinical Testing	3.5	Laboratory and animal studies	Assess safety and biological activity	5,000 compounds evaluated
File IND at FDA
Phase I	1	20 to 80 healthy volunteers	Determine safety and dosage	5 enter trials
Phase II	2	100 to 300 patient volunteers	Evaluate effectiveness, look for side effects
Phase III	3	1000 to 3000 patient volunteers	Verify effectiveness, monitor adverse reactions from long-term use
File NDA at FDA
FDA	2.5	Review process / Approval		1 approved
	12 Total
Phase IV	Additional Post marketing testing required by FDA

By Dale E. Wierenga, Ph.D. and C. Robert Eaton
Office of Research and Development
Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association

'In reviewing this report, it is important to keep in mind the realities of the drug discovery and development process. The U.S. system of new drug approvals is perhaps the most rigorous in the world. On average, it costs a company $359 million to get one new medicine from the laboratory to the pharmacist's shelf, according to a February 1993 report by the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment.'

See also Phase 1 2 3 4 Drug Trials, Clinical Trial, Food and Drug Administration, and European Medicines Agency.