Posted by Michael Wonder on 19 Mar 2019
Think drugs are expensive in the U.S.? Just try China
19 March 2019 - Beijing will want pharma companies to share the pain of the country’s growing health care costs.
For a country whose GDP per capita is only 15% that of the U.S., consumers in China are paying remarkably high drug prices.
The U.S. isn’t famed for its low-cost pharmaceuticals – but prices of generics are on average only 55% of those in China, according to a recent Credit Suisse Group AG report. For instance, Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine Co.’s docetaxel, a chemotherapy medication that treats a number of cancers, costs one-third less in the U.S.
Or consider levamlodipine, a cardiovascular drug. If CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Ltd. charged prices similar to those prevailing in the U.S., it would see 5% of its annual revenue gone.
