On the morning of May 15, 2008, Shao Mingli, commissioner of the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), met the delegation led by Mike Leavitt, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services(HHS). The two sides had a talk on the implementation of Agreement on the Safety of Drugs and Medical Devices, the cooperation on the incident of heparin sodium and the supervision of chemical products possibly used as active pharmaceutical ingredients, etc.

Secretary Leavitt gave positive evaluations to both party's cooperation after signing the Agreement on the Safety of Drugs and Medical Devices last December, especially to the efforts made on the incident of heparin sodium. The secretary also noted that he will explicitly inform the Congress, media and other related personnel that the Sino-US cooperation is science-based and both governments are engaged in seeking for appropriate solutions. He hoped to ink a work plan for the agreement during the Fourth Sino-US Strategic Economic Dialogue. 

Commissioner Shao Mingli also reviewed the efforts made after signing relevant agreements last December, including establishment of working groups, two bilateral dialogues, information sharing, particularly the all-round and timely cooperation between both country's drug regulatory agencies upon the occurrence of the incident of heparin sodium. Shao said the incident is a test to the cooperation sincerity and capability of both parties and a scientific and objective result will be achieved as long as both parties continue the sincere cooperation and the scientists make sustained efforts.

Qu Shuhui, head of SFDA Discipline Inspection Group of CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, and relevant directors of Department of Policy & Regulations, Department of Drug Registration, Department of Drug Safety & Inspection, Department of Medical Devices, Department of International Cooperation of SFDA participated in the talk.