Big Pharma in China R&D for the long term

 03-Jul-15, China Daily Europe

Despite China's ambitions to promote its pharmaceutical sector, it is likely to continue to depend on significant contributions from foreign companies for some time. While the situation provides opportunities for big pharma companies to expand their markets in China, they are also hoping that offshoring research and development to China may contribute to reconfiguring their R&D models with its weak record of producing new drugs.

Image: Zhang Chengliang / China Daily

Interviews with pharma R&D centers in Shanghai, patent analyses and industry reports suggest that, despite considerable investment by big pharma companies in R&D centers in China, the investment is still in its very early stages, with Big Pharma aware that its success in the Chinese market depends on long-term investment.

Emerging regions such as China hold out significant hope for reducing costs, for market expansion, and for reconfiguring the drug development model. China's pharmaceutical ecosystem is still in the early stages, so there is a scarcity of leadership and management skills. Because of the shortage of experienced toxicologists, pathologists, statisticians and clinicians, it could take several decades before a pharmaceutical ecosystem is fully developed.

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