China's pharmaceutical industry set for stellar growth in coming years 

Sources: China Pharmaceuticals & Health Technologies Newswire, China Pharmaceutical Guide 2010 (5th Edition), China Business Newswire, AEI Online

The production value of China's pharmaceutical industry is projected to grow at an average annual rate of 22% from 2010 to 2019, according to a report issued by the Southern Medicine Economic Research Institute (SMERI). The strong performance is attributed to the steady growth of China's economy, an aging population and increasing government investment in health care. Notably, the Chinese government will channel a total of RMB850 billion (US$124.82 billion) into health care reforms from 2009 to 2011

However, there are challenges surrounding the Chinese pharmaceutical sector which include the slowdown of the global economy, uncertainties in export growth, instabilities and turbulences caused by the introduction of various new regulations and healthcare reform measures, looming amendments of government drug pricing policies, continuous financial pressures from hospital drug purchase tenders, and rising raw material and production costs. Despite these, with continued robust market growth and active M&As, the pharmaceutical industry's future continues to be bright.