China Advances Pharma Innovation for Greater Drug Accessibility

China is upgrading its pharmaceutical industry to make drugs and healthcare more accessible. This is part of its plan to become more self-reliant through “new quality productive forces” driven by technical innovation and a supportive business environment.

China has approved 113 innovative drugs since its 14th five-year plan began in 2021, according to data shared at a forum in Shanghai on the development of the domestic medicine industry.

The number of approvals already marked an increase of nearly three times over the previous five-year plan, and had reached a market scale of 100 billion yuan (US$13.8 billion), the China Pharmaceutical Industry Development Conference heard on Saturday.

As many as 37 innovative drugs and 51 medical devices were approved for sale this year alone, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology data released at the forum showed. According to state broadcaster CCTV, the data also put China at No 2 in the world in the number of new drugs under development.

Cheng Zengjiang, vice-president of the China Food and Drug Corporation Quality and Safety Promotion Association, earlier this year highlighted how the drive was making drugs more affordable.

“The rapid development of domestic innovative drugs has not only greatly improved the access to drugs for patients, but also significantly reduced their [financial] burden,” the official Science and Technology Daily quoted Cheng as saying in April.

According to online database Statista, China was the world’s second largest pharmaceutical market in 2023, behind the United States with 44 per cent of total pharmaceutical spending worldwide. China was at 7 per cent, but in terms of the in-hospital market only, with data on retail sales not included.