CHINA HEALTH SCIENCES NEWSLETTER
Vol. 3 , No.12 - June 6, 2002
TOPICS THIS ISSUE:
- China Increases Imports of Chemical Medicine
- Nigeria Bans Indian And Chinese "Fake Drugs" Firms
- Centuries-Old Chinese Pharmacy To Open 100 stores Internationally
- Shanghai Offers Incentives To NanoTech Enterprises
- At Least 5 Distributor Giants To Appear In Next Five Years
- China To Become World's Most Important Processing Center
- Three Multinationals Expand China Operations
China Increases Imports of Chemical Medicine
Newly released customs figures indicate China imported 34.6% more chemical medicine in this first quarter compared to the same quarter last year. The volume of China's chemical medicine exports also increased by 3.35% but only 1% in capital value terms due to a fall in medicine prices.
China's imports of antibiotics increased by US$ 27.72 million compared to the same period last year, with Cefazolin ranking first with an import value of US$ 3.24 million and penicillin V ranking second at US$ 1.04 million.
The United States, Germany, the Netherlands, India and Japan are still the major importers of China's chemical medicine.
(Source: Asia Pulse)
Nigeria Bans Indian And Chinese "Fake Drugs" Firms
On Monday, Nigeria banned the import of medicine from 15 Indian and 4 Chinese pharmaceutical companies that it says are responsible for a flood of fake medicines onto its healthcare market.
The Nigerian National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) said that any medicines imported into the country from the banned companies would be seized and destroyed. A statement released by NAFDAC identified the banned companies as "notorious foreign companies who persistently indulge in the dumping of fake and counterfeit drugs" and that they are "stepping up efforts to find their distributors".
It is estimated that more than 70% of the medicine presently circulating in Nigeria's healthcare market is fake and potentially dangerous to consumers.
(Source: Agence France Presse)
Centuries-Old Chinese Pharmacy To Open 100 stores Internationally
Tongrentang Chinese Medicine Pharmacy, with over 300 years of history, plans to open 100 stores internationally within the next three years in an attempt to ultimately becoming the world's most recognized natural medicine brand name. Tongrentang is the country's most prestigious traditional medicine pharmacy with 500 outlets nationwide.
China's accession into the World Trade Organization (WTO) has intensified the competition between Chinese medicine producers and their foreign rivals. According to Tian Dafang, deputy chairman of Tongrentang, as foreign firms will be allowed access to China's retail pharmaceutical market in 2003, many domestic firms have accelerated their plans for international expansion.
In its latest endeavors to combine ancient secret recipes with modern technology and business management, Tongrentang has set up footholds in Japan, Thailand and Britain.
(Source: Xinhua)
Shanghai Offers Incentives To NanoTech Enterprises
The Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai stated that companies engaging in the research and development of the nanotechnology sector will be given investment and preferential treatment and policies.
Director of the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai, Zhu Jiping, said that the RMB 30 million (US$ 3.6 million) invested in the nanotechnology sector in 2001 has laid a solid foundation for Shanghai to take the lead in nanobiology, nanomedicine and nanoelectronics. He added that the next phase will include gaining the intellectual property rights (IPRs) of the core technologies used in the industrialization.
The local government hopes to encourage the application of nanotechnologies to industries such as con environmental protection, energy, utilities, automotive products, garments, construction materials and textiles.
(source: china.org.cn)
At Least 5 Distributor Giants To Appear In Next Five Years
An official with the State Economic and Trade Commission also reported that at least five more large medical distribution conglomerates, with annual sales in excess of RMB 5 billion (US$605 million) will be created in the next five years.
It was also reported that at least 40 local distribution companies, with annual sales of roughly RMB 2 billion (US$ 242 million) and holding around 70% of the market share will also be created.
Currently, although there are over 17, 000 medicine wholesale enterprises in China, only 10 of those have annual sales in excess of RMB 1, 000 million (US$ 121 million).
(Source: China Daily)
China To Become World's Most Important Processing Center
A top China government official recently said that China is planning to become the world's most important pharmacy processing center.
At a seminar exploring the development of the pharmaceutical industry of China, Yu Mingde, deputy director-general of the Bureau of Economic Operations of the State Economic and Trade Commission (SETC), said "while continuing to develop its own medicinal products, China will also become an efficient pharmacy processing center."
Competition has forced many multinational pharmaceutical companies to revise their international business strategies, including the transfer of production centers. As many multinationals are looking to shift the production of IPR protected medicine to developing countries, China is actively encouraging such transfer of production.
Another SETC official noted that "China should not feel inferior because it is being used as a processing center. Doing this will be good for the global economy and China itself will benefit economically."
In a recent move showing the confidence multinationals feel towards China, US General Electric announced they are considering moving the production of its ultrasonic equipment, CT scanners and X-ray machines to China.
(Source: Xinhua)
Three Multinationals Expand China Operations
In March this year, the world's largest private medicine manufacturer, Boehringer Ingelheim International Group, built Asia's second largest pharmaceutical plant in Pudong, China. With a combined investment of US$ 41 million, the plant will be equipped with first grade technology and production equipment.
Novo Nordisk Co., one of the world's leading enterprises in the treatment of diabetes, established a basic research and development center in China, the only one outside Denmark. With plans to expand a plant in Tianjin this year, Novo Nordisk Co. plans to surpass its sales in China over India this year and Australia next year.
Glaxo Smith Kline Co, which set up the first multinational pharmaceutical company basic research and development center at the beginning of this year, hopes that by increasing its shares in China's market, it will reach its set level of seven percent of the market share of the world's pharmaceutical market. The investment of Glaxo Smith Kline Co. is the largest in the Asian and Pacific region.
Although the average drug consumption per capita in China is merely less than US$ 10, compared to a robust US$ 400 in Japan, statistics show the value of China's pharmaceutical market will reach US$ 60 billion by 2010 and US$ 120 billion by 2020. Already 18 of the 20 top pharmaceutical enterprises in the world set up investment institutions in China.
(Source:Xinhua)
Lehman Lee & Xu
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The China Health Sciences Newsletter is intended to be used for news purposes only. It should not be taken as comprehensive legal advice, and Lehman, Lee & Xu will not be held responsible for any such reliance on its contents.
