Chinese regulators are investigating the quality of domestic generic drugs after a rare public backlash against a cost-cutting campaign that prioritised their use in the national healthcare system but has led to doctors complaining about their effectiveness.
The probe comes amid increasing concerns among foreign pharmaceutical companies that China’s drug procurement system, in which producers bid for bulk tenders to supply public hospitals, in effect discriminates against international competition.
China’s pharmaceuticals market is one of the most important for drug companies, second in size only to the US, with sales of $239bn in 2023, according to a report by research group Frost & Sullivan.