China has approved a new medicine for chronic constipation, the latest drug to pass Beijing’s newly expedited drug-approval process.

British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has obtained approval from the National Medical Products Administration to market its drug linaclotide in China, the company announced Tuesday. Linaclotide is intended for use by adults with irritable bowel syndrome with constipation (IBS-C) and people with chronic constipation with no known cause.

Around 14 million people in China suffer from IBS-C, according to AstraZeneca.

The drug has been approved for treatment in more than 30 other countries, and is expected to be launched in China in the second half of this year, according to Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, which partnered with AstraZeneca to develop the drug.