China’s high cancer drug prices create a market in Hong Kong
09-Oct-15, Bloomberg Business
Lined with stores stocking everything from Sony PlayStations to Lacoste polo shirts, Hong Kong’s Nathan Road is a favorite destination for tourists from the mainland. Li, a visitor from Hebei province who declined to give her first name, came in search of another foreign brand: Herceptin, a breast cancer drug from Roche Holding. Li found a pharmacy in the area that would sell her some without a prescription, for a cousin back home who’s been diagnosed with the disease. The price she paid - HK$20,000 ($2,580) for a 440-milligram vial - was about 30 percent lower than in some parts of China.
%20Bloomberg%20Business.jpg "Chinas high cancer drug prices create a market in Hong Kong (c) Bloomberg Business")
Image: Bloomberg Business
Small, rainbow-lit drugstores have become a feature of some of Hong Kong’s most expensive neighborhoods, sharing postal codes with outposts of Louis Vuitton and Chanel. Their lineups include muscle rubs, painkillers, aphrodisiacs, and traditional Chinese medicines. But if you ask discreetly, some will also sell you something else: cancer and hepatitis C drugs - no prescription necessary.