China's Pharma Potential Diminished
A corruption crackdown and a cooling economy are suppressing Big Pharma’s sales on the mainland
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Big Pharma thought China had the cure for two conditions the industry had long endured: anemic sales growth in developed markets and revenue erosion because of competition from generics. Unfortunately for Western giants, the China effect wore off fast. While sales in the country for eight foreign drugmakers, including GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, and Merck, climbed 40 percent in 2011, growth has dwindled to 20 percent this year, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The main cause of the decline is a slowdown in the Chinese economy. A corruption crackdown threatens to pull down sales further.