{"id":589547,"date":"2026-04-08T04:57:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T04:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/589547\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T04:57:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T04:57:09","slug":"global-drug-makers-face-pricing-pressure-as-china-targets-affordable-healthcare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/589547\/","title":{"rendered":"Global drug makers face pricing pressure as China targets affordable healthcare"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/business\/china-business\/article\/3347266\/global-drug-giants-double-down-china-amid-trend-build-self-reliant-supply-chains?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Global pharmaceutical companies<\/a> posted mixed earnings in China last year, with some firms warning that 2026 will be another tough year as Beijing pushes for affordable healthcare through price bargains.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Multinational corporations (MNCs) with innovative drug pipelines and the ability to quickly address unmet medical needs were expected to outperform rivals relying on mature and off-patent products this year, according to Bruce Liu, senior partner at global consulting firm Simon-Kucher.<\/p>\n<p>His comments come as Beijing sharpens its focus on biotech. At last month\u2019s annual legislative meetings, the government named biomedicine as a new engine of economic growth, along with <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/business\/china-business\/article\/3336397\/chinas-new-drug-insurance-lifeline-patients-or-squeeze-big-pharmaceutical-firms?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">measures to support innovative drug development<\/a>.Getting on China\u2019s <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/business\/china-business\/article\/3336397\/chinas-new-drug-insurance-lifeline-patients-or-squeeze-big-pharmaceutical-firms?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">national reimbursement drug list<\/a> (NRDL) \u2013 the state insurance scheme that swaps deep discounts for big volume \u2013 was \u201ctypically positive for innovative therapies\u201d, said Liu. While companies had to accept significant price reductions, the expanded market volume \u201cunlocked by listing more than makes up for the cut\u201d, he added.<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"AstraZeneca\u2019s China sales grew 4 per cent year on year to about US$6.4 billion in 2025. Photo: AFP\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/b23e8f82-2df4-429f-9b73-951eb9a8ab24_67094f6a.jpg\" title=\"AstraZeneca\u2019s China sales grew 4 per cent year on year to about US$6.4 billion in 2025. Photo: AFP\"\/>AstraZeneca\u2019s China sales grew 4 per cent year on year to about US$6.4 billion in 2025. Photo: AFPAt the same time, the <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/business\/china-business\/article\/3345310\/healthcare-investors-keeping-eye-two-sessions-clarity-drug-pricing?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">volume-based procurement scheme<\/a> (VoBP) for mature off-patent products, under which the government buys drugs in bulk for public hospitals, had put MNCs under intense price and competitive pressure, according to Liu.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Global pharmaceutical companies posted mixed earnings in China last year, with some firms warning that 2026 will be&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":589548,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[48191,8580,49,48,95,1376,9949,124576,84,392,224647,79739,1779,101477,137680,772,3642],"class_list":{"0":"post-589547","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-astrazeneca","9":"tag-beijing","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-china","13":"tag-donald-trump","14":"tag-eli-lilly","15":"tag-gardasil","16":"tag-health","17":"tag-healthcare","18":"tag-keytruda","19":"tag-merck","20":"tag-mounjaro","21":"tag-roche","22":"tag-sanofi","23":"tag-united-states","24":"tag-washington"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=589547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/589547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/589548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=589547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=589547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=589547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}