Chinese pharmaceutical market to become 5th largest in the world
2/21/2006
Feb. 15, 2006 (China Knowledge) – China will likely leapfrog many Western European markets to emerge as the world's fifth-largest national market for pharmaceuticals by 2010, says the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in a recent report.
By 2010, China's market for pharmaceuticals will likely reach US$25 billion, almost double the current total. Furthermore, total pharmaceutical sales in China for the top 10 multinational pharmaceutical companies (MPCs) registered a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15% from 1999 through 2004.
The report also stated that China is currently a hotbed of R&D investment, partly because the Chinese government is encouraging high-tech R&D through tax concessions and other incentives. In particular, China has placed a special emphasis on fostering biotech applications and innovative drug discovery.
As a result of these actions and the concerted investments in China by MPCs, China's R&D expenditure saw a CAGR of 24% during the four-year period from 1999 through 2003 -- more than double that of India. During that same four-year period, pharma patent applications from local Chinese companies rose from 283 a year to 1,696 a year. Today, approximately 30 innovative drugs are in preclinical development or actual clinical trials in China.