Succeeding In China's Pharmaceutical Market

How western drugmakers can succeed in in the People's Republic of China's pharmaceutical market is the subject of a new report from IMS' Pharma Strategy Group, entitled: China Attitudinal Study.

The market for western medicines in finished form in the PRC is estimated to be worth some $3.5 billion (at cif/ex-manufacturer prices) in 1995. The leading therapeutic groups in 1994, according to IMS, were anti-infectives with 38% of the total market and alimentary/metabolic products, taking 12%.

The market will grow rapidly from 1996, by an average of 15% a year, and IMS forecasts it will reach $6.1 billion in 1999 at constant US dollar rates. Growth will be driven by an 8% increase in the population, combined with a higher percentage of people covered by medical insurance (around 23% of the population is currently covered by a health care insurance scheme), a rise in Gross Domestic Product per capita to an average of $2,000 during the forecast period, and double-digit inflation. The main constraints to this growth will be the further introduction of cost-containment measures such as product de-listing and a cap on hospital expenditure.