Giant price cuts: the cost of access to China’s healthcare market – China’s latest business and technology news
A summary of the top news in Chinese business and technology for July 20, 2017. Part of the daily The China Project newsletter, a convenient package of China’s business, political, and cultural news delivered to your inbox for free. Subscribe here.
The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security is the government body that negotiates with drugmakers over the price of medicines eligible to be reimbursed by health insurance. On July 19, the Ministry published 36 new additions to the list (in Chinese). Fierce Pharma reports that “Western-style cancer meds — 16 of them — make up the majority of the drugs enlisted this time,” and that “Roche is the biggest winner, with four meds added to the new list.” Other foreign companies with newly added products include AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Novartis, Bayer, Janssen unit, and Sanofi.
The pharma companies will see a huge volume boost from having their drugs included in the list, but they have had to pay for it with significant discounts: most of the medicines will have a mandated 44 percent price cut in order to be eligible.
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Artificial intelligence
China unveils plan to become a world leader in AI by 2025 / Reuters
Read the State Council announcement here.
Big data, big concerns / China Media Project -
Wall Street and Chinese companies
The China SOE reform waiting game / Bloomberg
“There is no reliable strategy for investing in SOE reform.”
HNA finds Wall Street’s enthusiasm for Chinese conglomerates is cooling / NYT (paywall) -
Auto industry
Volvo accelerates towards China’s future with China’s Geely / WSJ (paywall)
Read more on The China Project: Geely: The astonishing rise of a small Chinese car company. -
U.S.-China business
U.S. bank card companies to seek licenses to operate in China in months / Reuters -
Foreign acquisitions
Opinion: China’s buying spree ends badly / Bloomberg
