The Govt. of the People's Republic of China announced incremental changes to its former import and regulatory policy that will allow the easier influx of affordable medicines from overseas.
China's structural reform to its local healthcare system furthers its resolve to progressively drive down drug prices, speed up the approval of new medicines so that they can reach the market quickly, paving the way for greater imports of high-quality medicines.
"We hope the initial reforms to open up the Chinese market by December 1, 2019 for Generics in small batches will be further deepened to allow for larger imports, as reforms succeed,” Dr. Gurpreet Sandhu, President, Council for Healthcare and Pharma (CHP), said. “I believe, as a result, the Chinese population will benefit through greater access and improved availability of a larger basket of essential and improved medicines, at competitive costs, effectively lowering the cost of medical care in China."
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There has been a positive response from patients to China cutting back import tariffs on 28 drugs including the much-required anti-cancer drugs from India, which are in great demand due to their lower prices as compared to imports from the West.
Recent ventures announced by generic companies in China include the pact between Sun Pharma and CMS, Aurobindo Pharma and Luoxin, Cipla and Jiangsu Acebright besides the introduction of a strategic pipeline of 70 products from Dr. Reddy's Laboratories and Cancer drugs by NATCO Pharma. The recently announced merger between US majors Mylan and Upjohn also has significant plans to scale up its combined presence in China.