Market advantage: A man walks past an AstraZeneca sign in central England. Multinationals like AstraZeneca could win more hospital tenders in China for their off-patent drugs, as they could more easily offer quality assurances for their higher-cost medicines. — Reuters
BEIJING: Even after a plunge last month that wiped US$46bil off Chinese healthcare stocks, domestic drugmakers may be far from their floor as a Beijing-led policy shift gathers pace.
China’s plan to drive down generic drug prices through a centralised bulk procurement programme is set to redraw the industry by forcing its thousands of small generic drugmakers to streamline and consolidate after decades of enjoying outsized profit margins.
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