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Leveraging China's potential
By Hank A. McKinnell (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-07-26 08:32 Some believe that stronger patent protection and significant premiums for
innovative products would put medicines out of reach of the hundreds of millions
of China's citizens who need more access today.
Again, and this is
counter-intuitive, our experience shows the opposite to be more true.
A
system balancing exclusivity with generic access and depending on the free
market to establish pricing adds, over time, numerous new medicines to the
public domain. Such a system also puts pressure on research-based pharmaceutical
companies to innovate.
Now, let me talk about the long-term benefit in
streamlining the regulatory process in China.
China has made great
strides in defining a transparent and consistent regulatory process when it
comes to the approval of new medicines.
I believe there is room for
streamlining both the approval and registration process and, along with it, the
process for reimbursement. With so many new medicines entering the market every
year, authorities need to ensure that patients have access to the newest
medicines possible.
Vast potential
I have tried to focus on how
China can unleash the vast potential of its life-science skills. Ultimately, the
path China will take in life sciences hinges on the vision the nation has for
pharmaceutical and biotechnology research.
By 2010, China will be a
top-five pharmaceutical market. By 2050, this nation is projected by some to be
the world's largest market for pharmaceuticals. The question is: Can China
become not just the world's largest consumer of medicines, but also, its
pre-eminent power in medical innovation?
I believe it can, and to get
there, China can begin, now, to unleash the full potential of its fragmented
pharmaceutical and biotech sector. I believe that the small pharmaceutical and
biotech companies that now pack into China's research parks don't want to stay
small forever. They want to "grow up" and become major players in what is
clearly an industry of the future.
For Pfizer, and for all innovative
healthcare companies, an environment of strong competition and a level playing
field for all competitors will be best for everyone starting with
patients.
As China has shown the world so clearly, competition drives
innovation and for patients awaiting new cures there can never be
enough innovation.
It is in everyone's interest to see a vibrant
research-based pharmaceutical industry take shape in China and to build
this industry into one of the drivers of this nation's innovation society.
I look forward to the day when many new medicines will come stamped,
"Discovered in China." That day will be a bright one both for China and for
patients, everywhere.
The article is an excerpt from a speech delivered
by Dr Hank A. McKinnell, Jr, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Pfizer Inc,
during his visit to
Shanghai on July 21.
(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)
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