Pharmaceuticals Market in China

China is one of the fastest growing global economies. It has achieved and maintained an average GDP growth rate well above 7% since the 1980s. The domestic pharmaceutical industry has been a key contributor to the country’s impressive economic growth. The pharmaceutical market in China presents an attractive and rapidly growing opportunity, which is driven by a number of positive trends including, but not limited to, strong per capita GDP growth, significantly increased government-backed healthcare reimbursement systems, and the size and growth of the country’s aging population.

According to Pharma China, sales of all Chinese and Western drugs in China hit US $50 billion at the end of 2007, and China’s Market is projected by some industry analysts to be the second largest in the world by as early as  2012. Sales of drugs, including Western medicines, biopharmaceuticals, and traditional Chinese medicines, rose 61 times between 1980 and 2007, according to the PRC State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA).

In November 2008, China announced a US$125 billion economic stimulus package to be spent over the following three years designed to provide its population with a basic level of public health care (including prescription drug coverage). China’s ambitious initiative is to increase health benefits, including prescription drug coverage, to 85 percent of the country's massive population of over 1.3 billion people. Ultimately, these changes will have a major impact on the Chinese pharmaceuticals industry over the next 15 years, as the stimulus increases the number of clinics in rural areas, dissociates pharmacies from hospitals and promises healthcare coverage to 100% of the population by 2020.

China’s Rising Importance In Pharmaceuticals Seizing China’s Pharma Opportunity All Roads Lead To China