31-Mar-17 Without much press or international recognition, Chinese companies have been making good progress enhancing their pharmaceutical and healthcare prowess. For example, in the past few years, 50+ Chinese pharmaceutical companies have entered or completed phase I and phase II clinical trials, while 10+ companies have completed phase III trials. [image: China Money Network

16-Mar-17 Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand plans to introduce robots into the dispensing process at its pharmacies to improve accuracy in preparing patients' prescriptions, increasing patient safety, and speeding up the hospital's pharmacy services. Currently the hospital handles more than 2 mn lists of medicine per year for patients and is targeting zero errors after the robots are introduced. [image: Bangkok Post]

14-Mar-17 Alex Gorsky, CEO of Johnson & Johnson said: "We believe that the macro trends - a large population, urbanisation, growing middle class, demand for healthier lifestyles and care choices - remain favourable for... China's healthcare industry. J&J has a legacy of translating technological innovation and medical science breakthroughs into industrial outputs that address the needs of patients and consumers." [image: China Daily]

01-Mar-17 Japan's national health insurance logged a deficit of JPY284 bn yen (USD2.5 bn) in 2015 as an injection of public funds failed to compensate for rising costs stemming from an aging subscriber pool and pricey new treatments. The main culprit was a rise in benefit payments, which grew 2.1%. High-priced hepatitis C drugs Sovaldi and Harvoni also played a role. [image: Nikkei Asian Reveiw]

27-Feb-17 With an economic potential still largely untapped, the Greater Mekong Region should be front and center in the plans of any pharma, medical device or biotech organization looking to expand in Asia. Among the volatile and unpredictable emerging markets throughout Asia, Vietnam and Myanmar have shown strong growth in their economies and appetite for pharma and medical devices. [image: Life Science Leader]